Mt. Blue goalie Brooke Bolduc makes a save on Skowhegan’s Hannah McKenney during the Class A North championship game at Hampden Academy in October. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel Buy this Photo
Brooke Bolduc was nearly unbeatable in the Mt. Blue cage this season.
The senior goalie led the Cougars to a Class A North regional final with a 13-3 record, a 1.35 goals-against average and .880 save percentage. She also recorded six shutouts.
Bolduc, who will be playing NCAA Division I field hockey next season at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, was a Miss Field Hockey Nominee and the KVAC Class A goaltender of the year. She also has been selected as the Sun Journal’s All-Region Field Hockey Player of the Year.
“I really focused on having a higher save percentage and I wanted to lower the amount of goals I had on cage,” Bolduc said. “It also started with my midfielders and defenders really working hard to keep the ball out of the circle. I thought that was really important to get us where we needed to be at the end of the year. That objective of stopping the ball mainly went really well. It wasn’t about making the big saves, it was about making the easier saves this year. “
Bolduc didn’t only shine in the games that the Cougars dominated.
“In the highly competitive games, even if it was a game that we lost, she would have had made numerous saves to keep us in the game in the first place,” Mt. Blue coach Jody Harmon said. “She had an incredible season and she grew so much over the last few years and she really worked hard to get where she’s at, coming back from an ACL injury in her freshman year to being one of the top goalies in the state in her senior year.”
Harmon said Bolduc did a good job talking to the defense and giving directions, while at the same time not forgetting her main duty of protecting the cage. Bolduc said she tried to stay mentality tough in even the toughest games and gave every last ounce of effort to try to keep the ball out of the cage.
Cony’s Mallory Audette gets tangled up with Mt. Blue goalie Brooke Bolduc during a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A game in Augusta in October. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo
Bolduc credited the players in front of her for the number of shutouts she recorded.
“In those games, it was a team effort that made it a shutout,” Bolduc said. “My defense had my back and we were able to communicate, and that’s what kept those games as shutouts.”
Harmon said Bolduc was more aggressive on the field during her senior season.
“(She attacked) more, again, (knew) the timing when to attack and when not to,” Harmon said. “Her timing was great, her clears were excellent. She would clear the ball to an outlet on the sideline as opposed to maybe clearing it up the middle, she was great about clearing it out to the side.”
Bolduc committed to the Merrimack Warriors during the summer, and she believes that getting her college decision out of the way before her final high school season began was helpful.
“It was a big relieve, I am excited to go to Merrimack next year,” Bolduc said. “I think it helped me focused more on what I needed to do in the moment and not worrying about my future.”
Bolduc’s lasting memories of her high school career is putting others before yourself.
“This is one of Jody’s sayings: Putting the ‘we’ before the ‘me,’” Bolduc said. “I live by that, it’s all about teammates and other people on the team before yourself, playing less selfishly and playing for the team rather than showboat. I take it really to heart because I felt the stronger we were, the better chance we had to get past the regional. “
Bolduc said that another Harmon saying that she will take to college is, “You deserve nothing, you earn it.”
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