BIDDEFORD — Biddeford High’s field hockey team went through an undefeated regular season. But it wasn’t until Wednesday night that the Tigers played at their best.
Top-seeded Biddeford used its speed and skill to control the tempo, and five players scored in a 5-0 victory over rival Thornton Academy in a Class A South quarterfinal at Waterhouse Field.
It was Biddeford’s 24th consecutive victory and extended the Tigers unbeaten streak to 33 (32-0-1). Biddeford has not lost since a 2-0 decision to Westbrook in the 2017 regional championship game.
Biddeford (15-0) will play fourth-seeded Westbrook (8-5-2) in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Waterhouse Field.
“That was 60 minutes of field hockey,” said Biddeford junior midfielder Abby Allen, who scored the first goal. “We’ve been looking for that all year.”
Thornton Academy Coach Lori Smith was certainly impressed. Biddeford seldom allowed the Trojans (8-7-1) to get any offensive pressure, often intercepting passes at midfield. “They came to play today,” Smith said of the Tigers. “They have speed, and they used that speed to intercept passes.”
Biddeford senior Brooklyn Goff, who scored to make it 3-0 in the second half, said the Tigers’ game is all about speed: “Pass fast. Shoot fast. Run fast.”
Allen got the Tigers going quickly, scoring just 5:04 into the game on a wicked reverse hit from the lower left side of the circle. The shot deflected off goalie Madison Vachon (six saves) and just under the crossbar.
Thirteen minutes later, CeCe Keller made it 2-0, scoring off a penalty corner. Megan Mourmouras set her up with a nice pass from the top of the circle, and all Keller had to do was redirect the ball inside the right post.
Goff made it 3-0 when she kept the ball in the circle and put it just inside the left post with 20:12 remaining. Jayme Walton and Rylee Maushart got late goals to finish the scoring.
Goff said playing their nearby rival was added motivation for the Tigers. “It does make it tough, but it is great motivation,” she said. “We know we’re going to play our hardest when it comes to that. So it gave us an energy boost.”
Biddeford Coach Caitlin Tremberth said this was her team’s best game of the season.
“I think all 15 girls that went in played their hearts out and each played their role,” she said. “Going forward, we talked about giving everything you’ve got for 60 minutes, and they definitely came to play for the entire 60 minutes.
“Before we were just playing halves, or letting up.”
Allen said the Tigers were able to cut off the passing lanes because they studied Thornton’s formations on film. “We’d been working on how to play against them,” she said. “We knew the way they moved the ball, who they passed to mostly, and we just marked up on those players. And then we just moved together.”
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