POLAND — Heart-wrenching, pulse-pounding games have been the norm for Poland this season.

Thursday was no different. The Knights watched the ball tiptoe along the goal line behind Freeport keeper Morgan Karnes with time winding down in regulation. Some players in the goalmouth started to celebrate, but the ball never crossed the line. Karnes dove back across the cage and kept the ball out, preserving for the visiting Falcons a 2-1 Western Maine Conference field hockey victory.

“Longest five minutes of my life,” Freeport coach Marcia Wood said. “That’s why we play though. We don’t want to see blowouts either way. we want to see close, tight games so you know when you walk off the field everything you put into it was worth it.”

The Falcons leapfrogged into second place in the Western B standings with their win over the Knights, the second such win in less than two weeks.

“We knew it was going to be a close game,” Wood said. “We just played them last week, and we knew they were going to be out for it. And they were. They outhustled us for most of the game, but I just said, ‘Dig it in at the end, and good things will happen.'”

Freeport had its own situation of a ball flirting with the cage on the other end in the 20th minute. The Falcons (6-3) set up a penalty corner inside the Knights’ (5-3) zone, and three passes later, Dani Foster fired the ball at keeper Tia Lowndes. The ball hit Lowndes’ pads, but squeezed through and started its trip across the white paint.

This time, it rattled the back board, thanks to the stick of sophomore Bailey Coffin.

“I just was on post, and I just saw it there and hit it off the line,” Coffin said.

“That’s what we practice all the time,” Wood said. “Hannah (Williams) has beautiful sends and so does Abby (Smith), and they’ve been getting them across and we just can’t our sticks on them. All the time at practice, we work on it.”

Coffin’s tally capped a second-half comeback for the Falcons, who trailed at the half, 1-0.

“At halftime and in timeouts, I told them it was like we hadn’t played field hockey before,” Wood said. “We’re halfway through the season, and it looked like the first game. I told them, ‘Let’s step it up, let’s start playing our game. You can’t regret anything when you walk off the field.”

The Knights dominated the opening half. After a quick burst of energy to start the game from Freeport, Poland outshot the Falcons 7-0 and forced Karnes to stop five shots, three on penalty corners.

The Knights registered their lone goal with 4:40 to play in the first half when Amanda Dube rushed through the defense in the circle and beat Karnes low left.

“Getting that first goal is crucial, developing that tempo,” Poland coach Amy Hediger said. “We also know, too, that we can finish things off if we don’t get that first one. From there, at halftime, our motto is always that the game is 0-0. If we’re winning, or we’re behind, it’s still 0-0.”

Freeport regrouped at the half, as well.

“We had to mark better and hustle to the ball,” Coffin said. “We hustled more (in the second half).”

Williams tied the game for Freeport with 17:43 to play when she whacked her own rebound past Lowndes, setting the stage for Coffin’s winner.

Even in the final 10 minutes and down by a goal, the Knights attempted to rally — again.

“That comes from our style of play,” Hediger said. “We are an up-tempo team, offensive-minded, and we continually get after the ball. Usually, that leads to more scoring. Today, that just didn’t happen.”

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