AUBURN — Madeleine Wagner’s overtime goal lifted Winthrop/Maranacook to its fourth consecutive state championship.

Wagner’s fake drew Dexter’s goalkeeper Sunny Bache out of the goal, which left a wide open cage for Wagner to shoot into and give the Ramblers a 2-1 win over the Tigers in the Class C field hockey final Saturday at Edward Little High School.

“To be honest, I don’t remember much,” Wagner said. “I really just remember pulling around the goalie at the end and trying to shoot it, but it was kind of a slow roller.”

Wagner, who caps her four-year career with four state championships, said that while overtime wasn’t common for the Ramblers this season, the team did practice 7-on-7s multiple times this week.

“It feels great, every year that I’ve been here, I’ve just been on such an amazing team with such amazing people, and I’ve created amazing memories that I’ll never forget,” Wagner said.

Advertisement

Winthrop coach Melissa Perkins said Wagner is a superb athlete and is coachable in tense game situations like Saturday’s state championship game. Perkins said she can rely on Wagner to listen to what needs to get done and execute.

Ramblers freshman Sophie Shuman, playing in her first state final, scored the game’s first goal with 2:10 remaining in the first half. She said she was “in the right place at the right time.”

“I was really happy, and I was kind of surprised,” Shuman said. “I didn’t expect this, to be coming into freshman year, I thought maybe I would get on to the field, but now I’m going to be able to have really good position from this and it feels good.”

Being a freshman on a three-time state championship team came with some pressure, Shuman said, but the upperclassmen helped prepare the underclassmen for what to expect.

“I love this team, and how they were really happy for me in the beginning, and then we were all celebrating Madeline, it felt really good,” Shuman said.

In overtime, Perkins noted, Winthrop had two freshmen on the field.

Advertisement

“They just really stepped into it, that’s a tough situation,” Perkins said. “We haven’t been pressured like that all season.”

In the third quarter, Dexter’s Lexi Vafiades tied the game when she scored in traffic with 6:38 remaining in the period.

Tigers coach Brittany McAllister said Vafiades is “phenomenal,” and does everything the coaches ask of her.

“She can just run, and other teams have trouble keeping up with her,” McAllister said. “It gets our offense going and it wears the defense down.”

McAllister said she was proud of the way Dexter stayed strong through to the end, especially during physical moments while the Tigers were down by one.

The Ramblers finished with nine shots on goal compared to the Tigers’ eight. Winthrop/Maranacook took only four corners, while Dexter had 14.

Advertisement

“We really press our girls to get those fouls in the circle, pit it into their feet, make sure that you get corners,” McAllister said. “So (14) is typical for us.”

Perkins said the fourth consecutive state championship is exciting, especially after returning every athlete from last year’s title win excluding senior Izzy Folsom, who tore her ACL.

“I think the girls just really bought in and learned how to deal with it, and this game, we started a little flat, so we just had to find our rhythm,” Perkins said.

Winthrop also defeated Dexter 2-1 in last year’s state final. The Ramblers have now won seven state championships in program history.

Related Headlines

Join the Conversation

Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.