HAMPDEN, Maine — It doesn’t matter how the game unfolds, Paula Doughty’s Skowhegan High School field hockey team simply finds ways to win.
The opportunistic Indians won the battle of penalty corners on Wednesday afternoon to offset Messalonskee of Oakland’s territorial advantage and come away with their 16th-straight Class A North championship by nipping Messalonskee 3-2 in a thrilling affair at Hampden Academy.
Fourth seed Skowhegan (13-3-1) will seek its 14th state championship in 16 years on Saturday at McMann Field in Bath, where it will take on the winner of the Massabesic-Marshwood game scheduled for later Wednesday night.
It was the seventh time in eight years Skowhegan has beaten Messalonskee in the regional title game.
Skowhegan converted two of its three penalty corners while thwarting 12 of Messalonskee’s 13 corners.
Skowhegan freshman Alexis Michonski opened the scoring just 1:34 into the game off Skowhegan’s first penalty corner, but Messalonskee freshman Chloe Tilley equalized with 17:16 remaining in the first half.
Sophomore Maliea Kelso gave Skowhegan the lead for good against the run of play with 6:43 remaining in the half, and another freshman, Breagh Kennedy, extended the lead off the Indians’ second penalty corner early in the second half.
Kaitlyn Smith pulled Messalonskee (14-3) within one with 9:13 left off the Eagles’ 11th penalty corner, but the Indians survived a last-second penalty corner when Leah Savage came off her line to smother a shot by dynamic sophomore Autumn Littlefield.
“Penalty corners are a huge part of the game,” said Littlefield, who has verbally committed to play at Boston College and turned in a terrific performance. “They give you real great scoring opportunities, and if you don’t capitalize on them, they can tilt the scale a little bit.”
Messalonskee had a 21-7 edge in shot attempts, but the Indians, led by highly-skilled and aggressive junior center back Haley Carter, did an excellent job getting their sticks on Eagles shots in the circle and swarming the ball.
Carter made several crucial interventions and used her speed to stickhandle out of trouble.
“She’s amazing,” said Doughty. “She’s Division I material. She has great vision of the field.”
“We stayed low, watched where the ball went, and that’s where we went,” said Carter.
The speedy Kelso was a two-way standout for Skowhegan.
She had a hand in all three goals.
Kelso took the insertion pass from Julia Steeves on the first goal and slid it over to Kealey Bowman, whose pass across the goalmouth was tapped in by Michonski.
Tilley cancelled that out.
Haley Lowell intercepted a Skowhegan pass and fed it to Allyssa Turner, whose deflected pass across the circle was swept in by Tilley from close range.
Messalonskee pressed for the go-ahead goal, but Savage came up with five first-half saves. Then, in one of the few Skowhegan forays into the Messalonskee circle, Kelso made it 2-1 off a Haley Thebarge pass.
Skowhegan was awarded a free hit, and Thebarge raced 5 yards before dishing it off to Kelso at the top of the circle.
“I was going to pass it to the left, but it wasn’t open. I faked to the left, pushed the ball to the right and decided to shoot it. If it didn’t go in, I’d go get the rebound,” said Kelso, whose screened shot sailed to the left of helpless Messalonskee goalie Hannah Pinney, who never saw it.
Kennedy scored by racing to the net front and tipping a Kelso pass behind Pinney after Steeves had inserted the ball to Kelso.
“I’ve never been a tipper before. Coach [Doughty] keeps telling me to keep my stick down, and that’s what I did. I didn’t know what happened,” said Kennedy. “We’ve been working on corners a lot.”
Smith made things interesting by tucking a Littlefield pass behind Savage from the doorstep, but Savage saved the day with her stop off Littlefield.
“I was nervous, but I was confident we would stop it. I just thought about getting the ball. I knew I had people backing me up,” said Savage, who finished with six saves.
Pinney made two saves on seven shots.
“We had real good offensive pressure. But you’ve got to finish,” said Messalonskee coach Katie McLaughlin.