TA wins field hockey Battle of the Bridge

BIDDEFORD — Batten down the hatches, prepare the cannons and ration the beans.

The Battle of the Bridge season is here once again.

A major shot was fired in the rivalry Thursday afternoon, as Thornton Academy field hockey defeated Biddeford, 3-1, at Doran Field.

Biddeford took an early lead on Thornton Academy, as Addison Cavalieri, in a group of players around the Golden Trojans’ goal, poked the ball past Trojans goalie Zoe Colton to give the Tigers a 1-0 advantage within the first two minutes of the game.

Thornton Academy responded about five minutes later in similar fashion, as Francie Foehrenbach was also able to slip a shot past a group of Tigers defenders to tie the score up at 1-1.

Throughout the rest of the first half, both teams were moved the ball back and forth down the field, but couldn’t capitalize on opportunities to score, keeping the game tied going into halftime.

Thornton Academy captain Dana Tripp said the team expected a fight from Biddeford.

“We knew they didn’t have that great of a record, but when it comes down to our Battle of the Bridge, it always comes down to a fight,” Tripp said. “No matter what the girls have done that season, you know that we’re going to come in just raring to go with our game faces on because we want to win, and you could tell that there’s an intensity that’s rarely out there on the field.”

The game remained tied until midway into the second half, when Tripp wound up and fired a shot past Biddeford goalie Tiffany Gagne to take a 2-1 lead.

“A lot of the time when we’re in that circle we’re just tapping it around, we’re trying to get it back on their sticks and there’s so much confusion going on. Then I saw [the ball] in an open space, spun around and said ”˜This is it, just slap it in, get this over with.’ That’s how I always feel in the circle, get this over with, get it done and run out of there and do it again.”

Only minutes later, fellow captain Kimberly Dao took a Mary Brown pass and made a reverse stick shot into the net on a penalty corner play to seal the game with a 3-1 score.

Tripp said the game was a must win for the Trojans.

“It was very important, because if we lost this, I don’t know what our standings would be for the playoffs,” Tripp said. “So this was definitely a must win, because even though it didn’t earn us a lot of [heal] points, it’s the ”˜get this done’ get into the playoffs [game] to have that second season.”

Thornton Academy finishes the season with an 8-5-1 record, which as of Thursday night puts the team in sixth place in the Maine Principal Association Heal Point standings. However, teams with similar records, Kennebunk, Windham and Bonny Eagle, still have at least one more game to play this week to finish their seasons.

Biddeford (2-10-1) could actually help the Trojans playoff positioning if it can defeat Windham in its last game on Saturday.

The win gives Thornton Academy a 4-0 record against Biddeford sports this fall. The golf team took two wins from the Tigers Sept. 8 and Sept. 22 by scores of 13-0 and 10.5-2.5, respectively. The boys soccer team also defeated Biddeford, 2-0, on Tuesday.

There are still two more games to be played in the fall season betweeen Thornton Academy and Biddeford, a rescheduled girls soccer match set for Oct. 12, as well as the 100th football game between the neighboring towns, scheduled for Oct. 24.

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