FREEPORT—The goals and victories had dried up for Freeport’s field hockey team, so prior to Wednesday evening’s tilt versus Greely at the Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field, Falcons coach Marcia Wood reminded her charges that time is running out on the regular season and that it was time to return to form.
Message delivered.
Message received.
Mission accomplished.
Freeport needed just five minutes to score the only goal it would need, as sophomore Liza Flower hinted at a big night to come when she finished a feed from classmate Reed Proscia. Later in the first period, junior Anna Maschino redirected a blast from sophomore Emily Groves to double the lead.
The Rangers had some chances to get back in it early in the second quarter, but couldn’t score, and by halftime the Falcons were up, 4-0, thanks to two more goals from Flower.
Groves added a goal in the third period, then senior Ellie Foss and Groves scored in the fourth to help Freeport close out a 7-0 victory.
The Falcons ended a three-game winless skid, improved to 7-3-1 and in the process, swept the season series from Greely and dropped the Rangers to 4-6.
“I told the girls before this game, ‘It’s time to get our act together. We only have four more games and it’s time to dig deep and start playing our best,'” Wood said. “We needed a game like this. To play like this was awesome.”
Ups and downs
Freeport surprised a lot of folks a year ago by winning the Class B South title, perhaps a year ahead of schedule, and as a result, the Falcons were deemed the favorites entering the 2023 campaign.
After a hard-fought 4-3 home loss to Yarmouth in the opener, Freeport won at York (3-0), then blanked host Poland (3-0), host Brunswick (5-0) and visiting Lake Region (2-0) before rolling to a 6-1 win at Greely and beating visiting Poland, 6-0. Last week, however, the Falcons lost at home to York (2-1), let a late lead slip away in a 2-2 home tie against Class A North contender Mt. Ararat, then Monday, they fell at undefeated Class B North power Leavitt (2-0).
“We were happy with our tie, but the two losses, we just weren’t us,” Flower said.
“We got hit with the sickness bug last week, so playing those games when you’re not 100 percent was tough,” Wood said. “I’m glad we were able to tie Mt. Ararat to get some (Heal Points).”
Greely just missed out on a playoff berth a year ago and has shown positive signs this fall. After beating visiting St. Dom’s (4-1) in the opener, the Rangers lost at home to Lake Region (5-3). After a 3-0 win at Wells, Greely lost at Yarmouth (2-0) and at home to Freeport (6-1) and at York (1-0) before bouncing back to blank visiting Fryeburg Academy (2-0). After a 4-2 loss at Cape Elizabeth, Greely went to Naples and eked out a 1-0 victory over Lake Region last Friday.
In the teams’ first meeting, Groves scored twice, while Foss, Proscia, junior Sophie Bradford and sophomore Lizalyn Boudreau rattled the cage as well to pace Freeport to victory. Freshman Maya Tracey scored the goal for the Rangers and junior goalie Mya Vickerson made a dozen saves.
Wednesday, on a beautiful early-October evening (64 degrees at the start), Greely hoped to beat Freeport for the first time since Oct. 10, 2017 (2-1, in double-overtime), but the Falcons rediscovered their offense and got back on track.
Freeport sophomores Emily Groves, left, and Liza Flower lunge for a loose ball in front of Greely junior Anna Mancini Wednesday evening. Flower scored three goals and Groves added a pair in a 7-0 Falcons’ victory. Hoffer photos.
Freeport earned a quick penalty corner, but Flower’s shot was denied by Vickerson.
The Falcons then got the jump with 9:59 left in the opening stanza, as in transition, Proscia set up Flower, who sent the ball into the cage.
“That first goal was really helpful,” said Flower. “We were on fire after that.”
“Especially after not scoring against Leavitt at all, it was huge to score early,” Wood said. “We didn’t have to panic or play catch-up.”
With 3:33 on the clock, Freeport made it 2-0, as Maschino sent the ball in off a penalty corner and it eventually came to Groves, who ripped a backhanded blast on target, where Maschino was waiting to get a piece of the ball and send it past Vickerson and in.
The Rangers came out with intensity in the second quarter, but senior Julia Brubaker missed wide, senior Lauren Hazard had a shot saved by Falcons sophomore goalie Maddie Kryzak and Kryzak turned aside a Brubaker shot off a corner as well.
After Freeport junior Sydney Gelhar broke up a rush by Greely senior Leyla Rabbat, then Boudreau denied another Rabbat attempt, the Falcons scored twice in a 70-second span late in the first half to end all doubt.
First, Flower finished unassisted on a rush with 2:23 remaining.
Then, with 1:13 left, Flower rebounded her own shot past Vickerson to make it 4-0.
“Liza had something to prove tonight,” Wood said. “In the Leavitt game, she was frustrated because she couldn’t finish. I knew she had that on her brain tonight. When I subbed her out, she gave me the side-eye because she wanted to go back in.”
Freeport earned a penalty corner as time expired, but couldn’t convert and it had to settle for taking a four-goal lead to the break.
The Falcons had a 7-2 shots advantage and a 7-1 edge in corners in the game’s first 30 minutes.
Freeport didn’t let up in the second half.
Early in the third period, Groves was robbed in front, but with 7:33 to go, Groves got another chance and she scored unassisted on a rush to make it 5-0.
With 8:10 left in the fourth quarter, Foss got in on the fun, scoring off a corner, from Proscia.
Then, with just 1:27 remaining, Groves scored on a rebound to account for the 7-0 final score.
Freeport players congratulate sophomore goalie Maddie Kryzak at the final horn.
“We’ve been practicing passing and strong drives and communication,” said Flower. “That’s what we’ve been focusing on in practice and we did all of those tonight. We really wanted to redeem ourselves tonight.”
“We needed some goals and to know what it feels like to score,” Wood said. “When we’re on, we can be so good. We just have to figure out a way to always be on.”
The Falcons finished with a commanding 15-3 advantage in shots on frame, got three saves from Kryzak and took 11 penalty corners (scoring on two of them) to just one for Greely.
The Rangers got eight saves from Vickerson, but couldn’t respond after falling behind early.
“It was a similar story in both of our games this year,” said Greely coach Burgess LePage. “Freeport’s speed is unrivaled in our conference. Especially on turf. We went into the second half hoping it would be a different story than the first. We stayed in it mentally even though we couldn’t recover from being down. I’m very proud of the girls for staying positive and playing hard. In our Yarmouth game, we were so ready and you could see it in the score. I feel like Freeport and Yarmouth are similar teams, but we psych ourselves out against Freeport for some reason.”
Thinking playoffs
Greely (currently ranked seventh in the Class B South Heal Points standings) is back in action Saturday at home versus Cape Elizabeth. After a game at Poland next Tuesday, the Rangers finish at home versus Traip Academy and Gray-New Gloucester. After falling just short a year ago, Greely is bound and determined to be one of the eight teams to qualify for the postseason this time around.
“Making the playoffs is a big goal,” said LePage. “We can’t miss by a millimeter again. I feel really good about our season. We have depth and each player has their own thing they bring to the field to keep momentum going.”
Freeport (second, but just barely, in front of York, in Class B South) goes to Gray-New Gloucester and Cape Elizabeth next week, then finishes at home versus Fryeburg Academy. The Falcons desperately want to hold on to the No. 2 spot.
“We hope to finish strong,” said Flower. “This was big for our confidence. Hopefully we can keep this going. We just have to communicate and trust each other. I feel like this team is really close.”
“I want to be 2,” Wood said. “I think we need to win out. We won’t overlook anyone. I’m just hoping we can finish strong.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. For game updates and links to game stories, follow him on Threads: @foresports2023
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