BIDDEFORD — The idea is to keep trying until it works.
Except that UNE tried something else instead.
And it worked.
Emily Koehler’s goal off of a penalty corner with 17:38 gone in the second half lifted the No. 2 Nor’easters to a 2-1 win over No. 3 Nichols, in a CCC field hockey semifinal playoff class at the Big Blue Turf Thursday afternoon.
The tally, Koehler’s sixth of the season, put UNE into the conference championship game against No. 1 Endicott, to be played in Beverly, Mass., Saturday at 1 p.m.
“It was definitely teamwork,” said Koehler, describing the factors that led to the win. “We stayed to our game plan the whole time, which was very important.”
Teamwork was also an apt way to explain the game-winner, the fruit of give and go involving Koehler and senior co-captain Michelle Oswald.
UNE had misfired on a host of penalty corner chances up to that point, the bulk of which were started with Koehler sweeping the ball from the end line to Oswald at the top of the corner.
None of them, however, involved a return pass to Koehler.
Still, that wrinkle was in the playbook, and with the score tied 1-1 in a very intense, physical contest, UNE coach Dani Ryder decided it was time to dust it off.
“We were just trying to see what their defense was doing,” said Ryder, who is in her first season at UNE. “Seeing holes. And we saw that hole, back door.”
Koehler said there was virtually no improvisation involved.
“That one was called,” she said. “We have it, and we like to bring it out, every now and then.”
On most corner plays, Oswald’s job is to tee up the ball for teammate Bree Tupper.
This time it was different, as she had to send the ball back toward the left post, hoping that it would find Koehler’s stick.
“My thought was just to stay calm,” Oswald said, “and make sure that I’m getting it to the spot that Emily is going to be.”
She did, and Koehler, left unguarded, threaded her shot past Bison netminder Molly Melanson and into the far corner.
“I just closed my eyes and shot,” she said.
The Nor’easters never trailed, having grabbed a 1-0 lead 12:51 into the contest on a goal by Casey Clark.
Tupper started the play with a drive from 15 feet out that was stopped by Melanson.
Clark pounced on the rebound, and when Melanson lunged to stop her, Clark promptly parked it.
UNE had chances to bulk up the lead, but couldn’t capitalize on them.
Sophomore Hayley LaPointe had a pair of opportunities, rattling the left post with the second of those with 3:08 remaining in the half.
Kaitlyn Warren, UNE’s freshman goalkeeper, came up with several strong saves to preserve the lead through the end of the half.
“She’s got ”˜crazy arms’,” said Koehler.
Nichols eventually tied the game, 1-1, 10:17 into the second half, when junior Barbara Roy slammed in her own rebound.
That set the stage for Koehler’s marker, which capped a give-and-go with Oswald.
Warren, who wound up with a season high 17 saves, thwarted the Bison the rest of the way.
As for Endicott, the Nor’easters split the two regular season meetings with the Gulls.
However, it was the 5-0 hammering UNE absorbed back on Oct. 15 ”“ which was its first loss of the year ”“ that sticks in the Nor’easters’ craw.
“I remember last game against them,” said Oswald, “and I remember feeling so horrible. I don’t want to feel that way again.”
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.
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