Goals have been tough to come by this season for the Windham field hockey team. The Eagles had only five through their first five games. So, for them, Saturday’s game against Massabesic proved a welcome departure from that trend.
Windham (2-4) scored twice in the first half and four more times in the second half en route to a 6-0 win at home over the Mustangs (3-4). Christina Maiorino led the charge for the Eagles, scoring three goals and assisting on another.
“We came out and definitely brought our A-game,” Maiorino said. “I’m very proud of all of us and how we played today.”
The Eagles got on the board with 17:37 left in the first half. Maiorino sent a pass from the right side through the goal mouth. Jen Sledge was waiting just off the far post, where she one-timed the ball into the back of the cage.
‘We’ve been working on being by the post and having your stick down,” said Windham coach Cory Merrill. “She finally did it and she got a goal for it. I was very excited about that.”
Windham went up 2-0 with 4:28 remaining in the first half when Laurie Pitts controlled a rebound off a penalty corner. Standing near the post, she used an impressive reverse-stick shot to tuck the ball into the goal.
The Eagles outshot Massabesic 10-2 in the first half and held a 6-3 edge on penalty corners. They didn’t let up in the second half, adding 11 more shots (to six for the Mustangs). Penalty corners were even at 4-4 after the break.
Abbi Brockelbank made it 3-0 with 23:58 to go in the game, knocking in a rebound following a flurry of activity in front of the goal after a Windham penalty corner. With 16:09 left, Maiorino knocked in a loose ball from amongst a crowd. She added another goal just over 11 minutes later on a hard shot from straight on, then completed the hat trick with 1:34 to play, taking a lead pass from Brockelbank and scoring on a breakaway.
“Some of the games haven’t gone in our favor before this, but if this team continues to play like this the rest of the season, we’ll have a lot more wins,” Merrill said. “I’m really excited. Six goals was great for us because in the past we’ve struggled with scoring… We’ve been inconsistent with how intense we played. We played intense the whole game today.”
Taylor Duncanson started in goal for Windham. She was replaced by Kayla Kennedy with 11:11 left to play. The two combined for the shutout, making eight saves. Anna Vanasse made 15 saves for the Mustangs.
Massabesic had a good scoring opportunity in the first half with 8:18 remaining, but Brittany Trowbridge’s shot on a fast break sailed wide. The Mustangs also had a couple chances near the end of the first half, with two penalty corners in the last two minutes. Becca Torrance tried to get Massabesic on the board with 8:55 to go in game, breaking in all alone, but Kennedy was there for a kick save.
The Eagles hope the six-goal outburst is a sign of things to come offensively as they try to make a playoff push over the next couple weeks.
“It’s a good turnaround for us,” said Maiorino. “We have a couple hard games coming up. Hopefully it just carries on.”
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