Whiplash is likely a common ailment among the Mountain Valley Conference’s field hockey faithful through the first half of the short season.

The reason?

Scores like Jay’s 12-2 whitewashing of Boothbay on Monday, or Telstar’s 10-0 stomping of St. Dom’s a couple weeks back, or even Livermore Falls’ 7-0 blanking of Lisbon last week are popping up in local newspapers and Web sites.

The league’s top four — Telstar (7-0), Winthrop (7-0), Livermore Falls (6-2) and Jay (6-2) — have just started facing each other. Winthrop edged Jay in the first game of the season, 1-0, and Telstar also edged Jay. Monday, it was Winthrop getting the better of Livermore Falls in overtime, exactly one week after Jay had done the same to the Andies.

“Everyone’s going to come out of this with band-aids on,” Jay coach Jane DiPompo said. “It’s going to be fun. Well, frustrating or fun, take your pick.”

Telstar’s Gail Wight is impressed by the number of high sores this fall, but ultimately, she said, scoring goals won’t matter much if you can’t keep them out of your own cage, too.

“I look at all of these scores and I think, ‘Where’s all the defense,'” Wight said. “Usually, you see an overtime game, and it’s 1-0 or 2-1. But 4-3?”

Telstar has yet to face Livermore Falls or Winthrop, and will see Jay again, too.

“It comes down to who makes the stops when it matters,” DiPompo said.

Spreading it out

Speaking of scoring, the Telstar Rebels have done their share of that this season. But unlike in years past, the team isn’t relying on one single player to put the ball in the cage.

“T.J. (Cowin) is scoring because that’s her job based on her position,” Wight said. “But we really are spreading things out this year, trying to keep it balanced, so that when T.J. is covered, we have other girls able to step in and score.”

Telstar’s depth has resulted in five different forwards finding the net, along with a handful of midfielders.

Keeping it close

Field hockey is a game of inches, and a game in which many final scores resemble soccer scores — or lack thereof.

But this year, Oxford Hills has had a particularly close race with each of its first seven opponents. Sitting at 5-2, the Vikings have started well this season, and owe much of their early success to an ability to win in tight games.

In the team’s five wins, the total winning margin was six goals. Oxford Hills upended Brunswick and Edward Little by identical 2-1 scores, Lewiston and Mt. Blue by 1-0 margins and Mt. Ararat by a two-goal spread, 3-1.

“When we play with a lot of passion and desire, that’s what happens in close games,” Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard said. “Everybody in the league is pretty evenly-skilled with the exception of the top few, and it comes down to which team has that desire to win out there on the field.”

Goddard’s girls, unfortunately for them, proved that point Tuesday, losing to Morse 1-0 in double overtime. The win was the Shipbuilders’ first of the season.

“The last couple of games, we had that drive,” Goddard said. “We just didn’t have that (Tuesday).”

Hanging in

Despite losing more games than they’ve won through the first half of the season, the Mountain Valley Falcons are in the mix for a home playoff game in Western Class B. At 3-4, the Falcons sit fifth in the most recent Heal Points (through Tuesday night). Greely is the team directly in front of Mountain Valley in fourth, and Falmouth is chasing the Falcons in sixth.

Right behind Falmouth is another usual suspect in the Western B race, Leavitt. The Hornets expected a small swoon this season with the departure of so many seniors from last year’s squad, and are at 3-3 through six games.

In Western Class C, with only six teams qualifying for the playoffs, Dirigo has won four of its first seven games on the year, and still sits two places out of the second season, and only one place ahead of winless St. Dom’s (0-5-1).