FALMOUTH — No. 59 was the one.
Hannah Trottier-Braun’s 59th goal of the season gave St. Dominic Academy a 3-2 win over Winthrop in double overtime in the Class C field hockey state final Saturday, giving the Saints their first state championship.
Each goal Trottier-Braun has scored since Oct. 2 has added to her Maine single-season record, but none was as historic as the last one.
“Winning the first-ever St. Dom’s field hockey state championship is so exciting,” Trottier-Braun said. “For that to end my field hockey career, to score the overtime goal for the first state championship we’ve ever had, it’s perfect. Perfect end to a perfect season.”
Trottier-Braun took a long pass near midfield and took off toward the goal, which was more wide open than usual because overtime is played seven-on-seven.
She dodged one defender to set up a one-on-one with Winthrop goalie Aiva Agri. Then Trottier-Braun loaded and fired.
“I’ve practiced that shot so many times and I’ve scored a lot of goals with that shot,” Trottier-Braun said. “I knew that I had to pull it or the goalie was going to stop it. Coming down the field, that’s all I was thinking, ‘Pull and shoot. Pull and shoot.’
“And, it was so incredible.”
When the ball hit the cage, the Saints (18-0) were champs.
“It feels just so good knowing that we’ve worked hard all season and it finally paid off,” St. Dom’s junior Paige Cote said.
“We were there (in the state final) in 2003 and 2006, but came up short,” said St. Dom’s Coach Brian Kay, in his 18th season. “Finally, we get the big one.”
Trottier-Braun’s goal was the first thing the Ramblers didn’t have an answer for, and that’s only because the rules of sudden death don’t allow it.
“What a great game,” Kay said. “Winthrop was an outstanding team. You can’t take anything away from them. They came to play.”
Kylie Leavitt, usually more involved in setting up goals, put St. Dom’s ahead in the first half with a shot from just inside the circle.
Winthrop controlled the attack for most of the half and broke through with 5:02 left when Kate Perkins scored off an assist from Kerrigan Anuszewski.
Winthrop appeared to take the lead in the sixth minute of the second half, but officials ruled that Perkins’ shot was taken from outside the circle.
With 12:09 remaining in regulation, Paige Cote knocked in a loose ball to give the Saints a 2-1 lead.
“We knew that they were a really good team and that they had a lot of people in goal who had stopped some of our early shots,” Cote said. “So I knew I just had to keep trying to get it in, and I think it was the second rebound … but I just did everything I could to get it in the back of the net.”
The Ramblers kept coming, though, and Perkins sent a pass through the defense that Gia Francis put into the cage to tie the game again with 8:42 remaining.
“We’ve been down in the regular season to a few teams, so we know how to play (from) down,” Winthrop Coach Jessica Merrill said. “We try to respond really fast and not let it bother us, because we know we can score.
“I’m just proud of them, how they responded to it.”
A few minutes later, Perkins had a shot hit the left crossbar.
That was as close as either team came to breaking the tie in regulation, and the game fittingly went to overtime.
“Oh my gosh, that was nerve-wracking,” St. Dom’s senior captain Callie Samson said. “We’re not used to that.”
The Saints outscored their opponents 143-9, so they were far more accustomed to blowouts than sudden death.
The plus side of overtime, though, was the open space.
“We work well with a lot of space,” Cote said. “We were obviously nervous, but we kind of like having more space.”
“I love fast breaks; they’re what I’m good at,” Trottier-Braun said. “And, in overtime, you have a lot of space because it’s seven-on-seven, and I can work with that space and I can get the breakaway and get the shot off, and hopefully get the goal.”
Throughout regulation and overtime, Trottier-Braun had several fast-break opportunities, but Winthrop snuffed them out until the last one, just past the 2-minute mark of the second overtime.
“She just knows where to find the net and she’s been doing it all season,” said Jennifer Brown, who shares head coaching duties with Kay. “I think she felt a little bit of pressure today to get it done, but that doesn’t bother her; it’s not in her way.”
Kay has seen Trottier-Braun come through in critical moments before, but he was still in awe.
“It’s amazing,” Kay said. “When the money’s on the line, she’s the one that can do it.”
Winthrop made a somewhat surprising run to the state final after graduating many seniors last season. This year’s team had only one senior, Kinli DiBiase.
“It’s tough to lose it because that was so well-played on both ends,” Merrill said. “But, I guess that’s the way it goes.”
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