AUBURN — Valerie Potvin’s early first-quarter goal off a penalty corner was all Lewiston’s field hockey team needed in a 1-0 win over Edward Little on Saturday in Auburn.
The game was the regular-season finale for both teams.
Potvin said her goal was the first of her varsity career.
“I don’t even know (how it happened), I mean, it was an insert from Ava (Dionne) up to me, and I just hit it,” Potvin said. “It was stressful.”
The Blue Devils’ offense maintained possession for the majority of the first half, and kept the Red Eddies (4-10) to only one shot on goal the entire half. Edward Little did not have its first corner until the third quarter.
“So, we played last night, and it was a really quick turnaround,” Red Eddies coach Kim Joler said. “So, that was probably why we had a slow start.”
Lewiston (5-8-1) recently snapped an eight-game losing streak, beating Oxford Hills 3-1 on Thursday on senior night. Coach Jenessa Talarico said the energy and output at practice has vastly improved this season, and that has translated to the games.
“We did have a few injuries in the middle of the season, which really hurt us, but the energy and practice lately has been a lot better,” Talarico said. “We had more practices, so we started working on perfecting some of the things we were missing, which was a lot of offensive things, because we’ve scored, but we’ve struggled to score the ball this season.”
Talarico also said the team has focused on circle play and tipping the ball over the latter part of the season.
Lewiston had six corners in the first half, whereas Edward Little did not take its first corner until there were 3 minutes left in the third quarter.
The Red Eddies picked up their offensive output in the fourth quarter, but ended the game with four shots on goal — all stopped by Blue Devils goalie Sarah Mack — to Lewiston’s seven. EL goalie Sophia Gerry made six saves. Lewiston had 11 corners to Edward Little’s eight.
Lewiston has maintained a positive outlook this season despite the losing streak. Potvin noted the support teammates give to each other even when they are whistled by officials.
“I think we all just talk each other through it if someone gets a call, we’re like, ‘It’s okay, you’re good, just brush it off,’” Potvin said. “I think that our team is very encouraging to each other instead of breaking each other down.”
The same attitude was prevalent on the sidelines, where Talarico often was yelling “energy,” which she said has been a team motto when offensive play starts to slow down.
“We talked about having more energy on the field as a team,” Talarico said. “Go for five minutes as hard as you can, and there’s no shame in needing a sub if you push yourself for five minutes.”
That worked well for Lewiston, especially when slowing the opponents’ transition in the midfield.
“I think that was a big difference from now to the beginning of the year, is that our forwards are our first line of defense, and they really sprint to get back, which helped,” Talarico said.
On the other sideline, Edward Little held its senior day. Joler said her six seniors have been working really hard, and the majority have been playing together since elementary school.
“They’re an extremely tight group of girls, so it’s bittersweet,” Joler said
Red Eddies senior Nora Condit was able to play in the game’s first minute after tearing her ACL in April, which Joler said was the highlight of the game.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.