SCARBOROUGH – Kristen Felt, along with the rest of the Scarborough Red Storm field hockey team, was eliminated from the playoffs back on Oct. 23. In a semifinal game that didn’t go as expected, the Storm were ousted by Cheverus at home by a final score of 2-1 – an unfortunate end for the team’s monumental effort to repeat as state champions despite losing 14 seniors from the 2009 title team.

But Felt’s career of showering both Scarborough and herself in deserving glory wasn’t over quite yet. Already the recipient of prestigious honors such as all-academic and first-team all-state, Felt was in the running for one final achievement on Dec. 5 – the coveted Miss Maine Field Hockey award.

Felt, who made 2010 her best season ever by scoring 12 goals and racking up 17 assists, was pitted against three other highly-touted candidates from around Maine: York’s Hannah Keating, Mt. View’s Hayleigh Kein and Becca Paradee of Gardiner. And as the hours rolled by during Sunday’s awards banquet at the Augusta Civic Center, Felt nervously sat in her chair, wondering if the acceptance speech she had written prior had been penned in vain.

“I was thinking, so I had to write this, and if I don’t get it, I’m never going to see it again,” Felt said of the speech. “When the announcement came, I was shocked. I guess I wasn’t expecting it. It certainly could have gone either way – all the other girls are great athletes and great people. It was surreal.”

Felt did indeed emerge triumphant; the moment quickly blossoming into the capstone of a stellar high school career, which began with two seasons at Cony High School in Augusta and finished with two years at Scarborough.

Was the award the highlight of Felt’s time in red and white, though? That’s up for debate. After all, it’ll be difficult for her to ever top what happened a year ago as she helped her teammates hoist Maine field hockey’s most coveted trophy.

“(Winning the state championship) was an amazing experience; something you can’t really ever feel again unless you could somehow go back to that game,” Felt said. “I moved to Scarborough during my junior season, but the year before we had lost to Skowhegan in the championship game, so everyone was out for blood, and wanted to get back there badly.”

Kerry Mariello, the Scarborough field hockey head coach, spoke both at the ceremony and afterwards about just what a dynamic force she believed that her star senior had become for the Red Storm. Even if Scarborough didn’t win it all this year, the coach said, Felt had personally made Scarborough a force to contend with – she was that potent on the field.

“She’s obviously the epitome of the sport of field hockey,” Mariello said. “Kristen defines the game in every way possible. She is just the complete package player; when she has the ball, things are going to happen in a positive way. And the people around her obviously become better players as well because of that. She’s continued to progress our program almost single-handedly this year. We wouldn’t have been the same team without her.”

Perhaps the most interesting element of her new award was that Felt – and the rest of the world – was first notified that she was in the running back on Oct. 16, prior to the last two games the Storm played. Thus, Felt entered the playoffs with just a little more weight on her shoulders, and those who were gunning for her suddenly had a lot more ammunition in their holsters.

“It was crazy,” Felt said. “Sometimes there were three or four people marking me at one time. I had to just keep moving around the field and hoping that I was getting other offensive players open. I felt a little like Randy Moss, distracting the defense so other receivers could make a play.”

Although Felt has participated in other sports for the Red Storm, including crew and lacrosse, she plans to only play field hockey this year. Felt has a commitment to play for Bucknell University next fall – a team she was scouted and recruited by – and in the interim she will continue to push herself in the game she loves while playing for a club team called the Cape Ann Coalition, based out of Byfield, Mass.

“You can’t just play in high school. You have to play some form of club season too,” Felt said. “The college coaches nowadays are looking for players who can play the game year-round at the club level, so if you want to play in college, that’s what you have to do. The clubs are a different level of conditioning and intensity, and college coaches want to know that you can make it through a long season without sustaining an injury.”

But Felt has drawn just as much valuable experience from her time in Scarborough, particularly under the tutelage of Mariello.

“She’s awesome,” Felt said. “She’s always pushing people to be not only physically ready, but also mentally prepared. Her preseason was always a lot of work, and she was always very supportive throughout the year.”

And Felt will need to be as mentally prepared as she can be as she heads off to college as a planned major in neuroscience. Felt aspires to eventually become a medical doctor, and there should be little surprise that she’s shooting so high, given her track record. Unlike Sunday’s award ceremony, there should also be very little suspense regarding her long-term success; this is a gamer who excels at every task she tackles, on the field and off.

“Kristen is in a category of her own as far as her character is concerned,” Mariello said. “She knows what she wants and she’s going to get there, because she works so hard to get it. She is just a great quality girl. She’s going to be successful, and I’m looking forward to seeing what her future is going to be like.”

Scarborough’s Kristen Felt weaves her way between two Cheverus defenders during the Red Storm’s upset loss in the Class A West semifinals in October. While the loss stung, Felt could take some solace in being named Miss Maine Field Hockey on Dec. 5. (File photo)

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