The preparation was the same, but the implications will be far greater when Telstar and Winthrop locks sticks Wednesday in a pivotal MVC field hockey showdown.

“When you’re out there on the field, you need to be present in the moment, present all the time and focused,” Telstar coach Gail Wight said. “Not just here or there. We didn’t do anything different. You just have to play tough defense and score early.”

The teams, collectively 19-0 on the season, have combined to allow just seven goals on the season. Telstar has allowed two, and the Ramblers five, though three of those came in a wild Monday afternoon overtime contest against fellow MVC stalwart Livermore Falls.

“And one of those was a slow dribbler that I joke with the girls I could have stopped by running from the sideline,” Wight said. “It starts with defense, it always has.”

Both teams are already entrenched at the top of their respective regions. Telstar holds a healthy lead on also-undefeated NYA in the most recent Western Class C Heal Points, and the Ramblers are on top of Dexter by a slim margin in Eastern Class C. For each, a victory would go a long way toward a top seeding for the regional tourney.

But no one is hoping for a tie.

“Oh, God, don’t say ‘tie,'” Wight said with a laugh. “The reality is, hopefully someone will lose their undefeated status (Wednesday).”

HANGING IN THERE

Edward Little has managed just three wins with four games to play. But with some good skill and a little mathematical fortune, the Eddies still have plenty of hope for the playoffs.

“We have some teams worth some points coming up, so hopefully we can move into the top eight,” EL coach Greg Perkins said.

The Eddies began the year with aspirations of keeping pace with the lower end of the top tier and remaining in the middle of the pack. Then the scoring stopped. After scoring four goals in its first two games, EL managed just five in its next six.

“Early in the year we were having trouble scoring goals,” Perkins said. “We were outplaying teams and outshooting teams and just not scoring.”

The Eddies broke out against Mt. Ararat, netting four goals in that victory, and added four more in a recent win over Brunswick, which avenged an earlier loss to the Dragons.

“The last couple of games, except for playing Skowhegan, of course, we’ve been scoring. It’s made all the difference.”

The playoffs, Perkins said, are within the team’s grasp. It just needs to continue to find that scoring touch.

“Hopefully the girls are ready for this stretch,” Perkins said. “If we can score some goals, I think we can hopefully win a few and make it into the playoffs.”

CLASSES? WHAT CLASSES?

A lot of uncertainty faced the Gray-New Gloucester field hockey squad to begin the season, with several new opponents dotting the schedule, and all from Class C.

That hasn’t mattered to the Patriots, who have seen three of the toughest Class C schools in Western Maine this season, and battled well with them.

“We’ve had some really competitive games, playing against teams like Freeport and Sacopee and Old Orchard,” Gray-NG coach Debra Downing said. “Well-matched, evenly-matched games.”

Evenly-matched games have helped the Patriots reach a new milestone this season. With a victory over Waynflete on Tuesday, the team reached five wins for the first time in recent memory.

“The girls are all really excited,” Downing said. “This is a big year for them.”

But the Patriots aren’t letting anyone tell them that more wins comes from lesser competition, despite the schedule.

“The size of the school isn’t all that indicative of how they’re going to play in the game,” Downing said. “It depends on preparation, and there are some really, really good teams in Class C.”

The meat of the schedule remains for Gray-New Gloucester, with showdowns next week against Freeport, NYA and Old Orchard Beach to finish the season.