SCARBOROUGH — Telstar field hockey hails from the land of snow flurries before Halloween.

The Rebels play on a bumpy, gravelly, multi-use field on top of a hill. The layout hosts softball and cross country skiing at other times of year.

Top-seeded in the Western Class C playoffs after winning another Mountain Valley Conference championship, Telstar nevertheless was forced from its familiar surroundings for Tuesday night’s regional final.

While the showdown was only two hours from home at Mitchell Sports Complex, the Rebels felt like it might as well have been on another planet after a 3-2 loss to No. 3 North Yarmouth Academy.

“You know how I feel about this game. It’s frustrating to play on a turf field against a team that plays on turf all year,” said Telstar coach Gail Wight.

Katie Millett of Auburn scored two goals and assisted the other for NYA (15-1), which defeated Telstar (14-2) on the FieldTurf at Scarborough High School for the second straight year and won its third consecutive regional crown.

NYA will face Eastern Maine champion Foxcroft Academy in Saturday’s state final at the University of Maine in Orono. The Panthers played Dexter each of the last two years, winning in 2008 and losing in ’09.

“We feel like that (defeat) was something that had to happen for us to get ready for this year,” Millett said. “We still haven’t reached that peak.”

Katie Sumner, one of 10 Telstar seniors, scored each Rebels goal on a penalty stroke after NYA goalie Mariah Farrell illegally “froze” or stopped the ball to prevent it from going into the cage.

Sumner’s first goal followed an untimed penalty corner just before intermission. It knotted the issue to cap a first half in which the Rebels mostly were kept out of their offensive zone.

Unaffected enough to do a song-and-dance on the sideline after a brief halftime huddle, NYA answered with Millett’s two goals.

Millett blasted the go-ahead tally from just inside the scoring circle. Her laser from left-to-right that aptly demonstrated the Panthers’ confidence on the true, flat playing surface. Their home field also is the evergreen variety.

“I’m not saying it’s the whole reason we lost, but you can tell just by watching that the game is so different on turf,” Wight said. “You can’t do that on grass.”

Jen Brown notched the assist for NYA with 14:33 remaining.

The lead grew to a pair with 3:38 remaining when Millett redirected a shot by Katie Cawley just inside the right corner of the cage.

“Once it became 1-1, it was like 0-0. It got us to push harder to get that second one,” said NYA coach Julia Sterling. “And the third goal was quite important.”

Sumner made that insurance vital, delivering a virtual instant replay of her previous goal with 1:50 left.

Farrell stopped Sumner’s initial shot. She needed to smother a second try by Jamie Steven to prevent a conversion on the rebound.

Once again, Sumner aimed left, kept the resulting stroke inches off the ground and heard the telltale thump.

“Katie is a great ball-handler,” Wight said. “She has nice speed and a strong shot.”

NYA never allowed Telstar into its defensive zone for even a sniff of a potential tying goal.

That was standard procedure for the Panthers. Five of the Rebels’ seven shots on goal occurred either on the penalty strokes or the sequences leading up to them.

On the flip side, blistering passes and long-range shots by Millett and Megan Fortier created numerous opportunities for the Panthers. They cashed in the first with 8:02 remaining in the first half.

Telstar defender Susan Newkirk alertly got back on defense in an attempt to break up one of those Fortier-to-Millett connections.

Newkirk and Millett collided in the process, however. And when Millett regained her balance, Telstar freshman goalkeeper Hali Barter stood in the bull’s-eye of a two-on-none Panthers rush.

Millett rifled to Fortier for the goal.

NYA felt that it overcame its own drastic disadvantage Saturday in a 1-0 semifinal win at Livermore Falls. Millett scored the game-winning goal in overtime on grass.

“There is a bump in the road to every season,” Millett said. “That was one for us. Coach being away and in-and-out of surgeries was another. It brought our team together, and now we’re ready to go to states.”

Telstar generated its shot at the end of the half in under 20 seconds. Victoria Forkus took a free hit from beyond midfield, generating a run that led to a Rebels corner.

Kayla Merrill launched that play from the back line after time elapsed, leading to a shot by Emma Davis that Merrill (five saves) was forced to trap between her pads.

“We had a few other shots that hit the side of the cage that if the goalie had to kick them out, who knows what might have happened?” Wight said.

Telstar won three of four regional titles from 2004 to 2007. In those days, the No. 1 seed could host the entire regional at home.

More recently the Maine Principals’ Association went to a Super Tuesday format that mirrors the one-site state finals.

The Rebels started to prepare as far back as the first week of preseason, scrimmaging Oxford Hills on Gould Academy’s turf field a mile away from campus in Bethel.

They practiced there again on Monday.

“We played on it three times, but it’s their field, not ours,” Wight said.

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