AUBURN — It was a fitting end to another undefeated season for the Cheverus field hockey team, and a fitting end to a storybook career for Lucy Johnson.
Johnson, the state’s all-time leading scorer, notched two goals in her final high school game, and the Stags successfully defended their Class A state title with a 3-1 victory over Brewer on Saturday at Edward Little High.
“It’s a great feeling. Like I said after the regional final, it never gets old. I can’t believe it happened again,” Johnson said. “I’m so proud of us. … Our team chemistry was unbeatable, and I feel like that’s a main reason we got the gold.”
Sydney Brunelle also scored for Cheverus (18-0), which has won 36 straight games. Syrina Zavala scored for Brewer (15-3), which was making its first Class A final appearance.
“That was an amazing season,” Cheverus Coach Andrea Musante said. “The girls worked for it, and today was just the icing on the cake.”
With Johnson leading the way, the Stags have dominated their competition. Since her arrival, they’ve gone 71-1, also winning state titles in 2021 and 2023. Their only loss was to Skowhegan in the 2022 state final.
“(My teammates) really set me up for success, and I think that’s one thing that we worked on,” said Johnson, one of six Cheverus seniors, along with Gabby Blais, Sophia St. John, Lillian Magda, Zoey Radford and Sam DeGeorge. “We never want to make each other look bad, and that’s one thing about this team. We always want to make each other look good.”
They couldn’t have looked better to start the game. Only 1 minute and 34 seconds in, Brunelle hammered home a rebound after an Abbie Derosier save.
“I just tracked the ball and shot it right back in. It (felt) so good, so rewarding,” Brunelle said. “Our coach always says ‘First two minutes, score, get in their heads,’ and that’s exactly what we did.”
Cheverus quickly struck again when Johnson brought the ball up, spun around a defender and scored on a reverse with 10:50 to go in the first quarter, giving Cheverus a 2-0 lead within the first five minutes.
“Getting the first goal is probably the best thing we can do, because it just rattles the other team a little bit and gets us going,” Johnson said.
Brewer Coach Jamie Emerson called a timeout to calm her players.
“I said ‘Do you guys feel better now?’ Because one thing that they had on us was the experience, and we had never been here before. I think that showed in the first five minutes,” she said. “After that, they said yes, they took a deep breath, and we started to play the way we could.”
Brewer cut the gap to one when Zavala scored off a Paige Oakes assist with 12:51 to go in the second quarter. Johnson, though, restored the two-goal advantage with a goal from the left side 5:59 into the third.
The goal was announced as the 150th of Johnson’s career.
“I didn’t even know. They said it and I was like ‘Wait, what?’ I was so confused,” Johnson said. “It’s really nice. It’s a great personal accomplishment, for sure, but I couldn’t have done it without any of my teammates.”
Cheverus met with some challenges this season, most notably overcoming the graduation of last year’s Miss Maine Field Hockey winner, Lily Johnson, and adjusting to a new head coach. For the third time in four years, however, no challenge proved too steep for the Stags.
“(It’s) amazing, honestly. It’s such a big accomplishment,” said Magda, a senior defensive midfielder. “Every year, we go in not knowing which (other) teams (are) going to be competitive that year. … I’m just so happy to be here with this team, as a family.”
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