Lawrence’s Hope Bouchard fires a pass around Cony defender Abby Morrill during a Class A North girls’ basketball semifinal in February at the Augusta Civic Center. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Maybe she scored, maybe she didn’t. Either way, when Hope Bouchard played this year, she found ways to help her team win.
OTHER FINALISTS
Sierra Carson, Oxford Hills: In addition to leading the Vikings to the Class AA basketball title, Carson, a senior, was the Class A javelin champion and helped Vikings reach the Class A North final in field hockey.
Lucy Johnson, Cheverus: Johnson, a sophomore, was the Varsity Maine Player of the Year in both field hockey and ice hockey, as Cheverus reached the state championship game in field hockey and then won the ice hockey state title. She also is an outstanding lacrosse player.
Maddie Ripley, Oceanside: Ripley, a junior, became the first Maine girl to win a wrestling state championship against boys, taking the Class B 106-pound title. She also played field hockey and softball.
Ruth White, Orono: A junior, White became the first Mainer to win the New England cross country title twice. She also swept the Nordic races at the Class C skiing state championships, and won the 3,200 meters at the both the Class C state meet and the New England championships.
Bouchard began her senior year with a remarkable field hockey season, leading Lawrence to the program’s first state title while earning Miss Maine Field Hockey honors. She was no less impressive in basketball, leading the Bulldogs to a Class A title and being named a Miss Maine Basketball semifinalist.
Bouchard is our choice the 2022-23 Varsity Maine Female Athlete of the Year. She was selected from an accomplished field of athletes across the state.
“It’s hard to think of how it could have gone any better,” Bouchard said of her senior year. “It was definitely a blast getting to play with my teammates one last time and being able to do what we did. We accomplished all of the goals we set out to do ever since we’ve been playing sports, really.”
Bouchard was the leader of a Lawrence field hockey team that went 18-0 and won the Class B title. Anchoring the Bulldogs in the midfield, she scored 10 goals while providing a whopping 32 assists to finish her career with a program-record 62.
Lawrence field hockey coach Shawna Robinson said Bouchard easily could have scored more for the Bulldogs last fall. But it was Bouchard’s unselfishness – generating more opportunities for her teammates – that helped power Lawrence to elusive regional and state titles, the coach said.
“She’s the most unselfish kid I’ve ever met,” Robinson said. “She’s the type of person who doesn’t get excited about herself – she’d be more excited about finding a four-leaf clover than scoring a lot – but she wants her teammates to have that success more than anything.”
Watching Bouchard play in junior high school, Robinson knew the Lawrence program had a special player waiting in the pipeline. But the talk around Bouchard at that time, Robinson said, was about her skills on the basketball court.
“I thought she was a better field hockey player than she was a basketball player, but she’s such a natural athlete that she can do anything well,” Robinson. “I think if Hope decided she wanted to be a ping-pong player or a golfer, she’d be great at it. She’s just so talented and has such an athletic mind.”
Four months after leading her team to the field hockey championship, Bouchard helped add another chapter to Lawrence’s storied girls’ basketball history. She led a well-balanced Bulldogs team in scoring (12.5 points), assists (4.4) and steals (2.8) per game as Lawrence went 19-3 to claim the program’s sixth Gold Ball.
As was the case in field hockey, Bouchard’s unselfishness somewhat watered down what could have been an even more impressive statistical showing in basketball. But she did produce big numbers in her final games, scoring 26 points in the regional final against Gardiner and 25 in the state championship game against Brunswick.
“Down that stretch, she was just so focused and locked in that it seemed like there was nothing else going on in her world,” said Lawrence girls’ basketball coach Greg Chesley. “She’s just fearless; she doesn’t back down, and when something goes wrong, whether it’s a call or a turnover, she just went back and made a play at the other end.”
Of all the great moments this year, one stood out the most for Bouchard: the basketball team’s 61-54 victory over Gardiner in the Class A North title game. The Tigers had topped Lawrence twice in the regular season and were undefeated heading into the regional final.
“I think that game against Gardiner was probably our best feeling afterwards,” Bouchard said. “Ever since, like, fourth grade, we were always the two teams that would make it to the championship. We’d been talking about (playing them in the regional final in high school) ever since then. We finally made it, and we won.”
Bouchard will continue her field hockey career at Husson University in the fall. She plans to pursue a degree in biology.
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