By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

WINTHROP – As far as the hometown florist is concerned, this wasn’t a banner year for the Winthrop High School field hockey team.

Winthrop’s 2-1 victory over Lisbon under Wednesday’s brilliant sunshine punctuated a final home game at which only two traditional red roses changed hands from appreciative seniors to proud parents.

The win was adventurous as coach Sharon Coulton has come to expect from her junior and sophomore-dominated team. It also was the kind of effort she wanted to see from a team carrying a four-game losing streak and the stigma of a frustrating, overtime defeat at Lisbon when the teams met last month.

“We’re excited,” Coulton said as she tried to drown out the celebratory chatter over her shoulder. “When my team was all seniors, it was always much quieter than this.”

Junior Kristi Zimmerman scored the game-winning goal on a penalty stroke with 16 minutes remaining.

Winthrop (7-5) forced the issue with four consecutive shots at close range against Lisbon goalkeeper Rachel Beal. Beal smothered the last bid with her body, but the referee ruled that her move illegally froze the ball. Zimmerman’s stroke squirted between Beal’s pads.

“I practice penalty strokes a lot, and I take most of them. I was afraid she stopped it,” Zimmerman said. “I kind of lost track of the ball. When I didn’t see a rebound come back at me, I thought it must be a good sign.”

Beal (17 saves) stifled another Zimmerman penalty stroke with 8:33 left, and the Greyhounds (6-6) carried the ball deep into Winthrop territory with several chances to tie the game down the stretch. Zimmerman, Kayla Kimball, Jill Ouellette, Brianna Tupper and Meghan McCarthy each delivered a key zone-clearing hit to keep Lisbon away from goalie Sarah Giampetro.

“I thought we played well and played up to our expectations,” said Lisbon coach Mark Stevens. “But when you look at 15 shots, only one went in, and that one didn’t even hit the back of the cage. It just sort of trickled across. At this point in the season, everyone else has improved. You can’t just hope to push it between the goalie’s pads. You have to place it.”

Lisbon tied the game eight minutes into the second half on a redirection by Erica Merritt. That matched a first-half goal by Tupper. The Mountain Valley Conference rivals are preparing for their respective playoffs (Winthrop in Eastern Class C, Lisbon in the West) with similarly young squads.