The second-seeded Maine Central Institute field hockey team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first six minutes and went on to shut out the seventh-seeded Boothbay Region Seahawks, 4-0, in the quarterfinal round of the Class C North playoffs on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Boothbay finished the season at 7-8 and MCI moved on to the semifinal where it defeated Mt. View, 3-1, to move on to the North final against Dexter on Tuesday.

“MCI is a very good team and was definitely hitting their stride as the tournament began in our match-up,” said BRHS coach Donna Jordan in an email message on Sunday. “We were aware of their quickness on their offensive line and we were unable to counter their attack in the first 20 minutes of play. Once we settled down to play, we had a couple of scoring opportunities that we could not capitalize on. I thought we played better in the second half, creating more scoring opportunities, but MCI's stingy defense held us scoreless.”

Freshman forward Victoria Friend and senior forward Kali Doiron scored MCI's first two goals, followed by a goal by sophomore forward Addi Williams late in the first half. Williams also scored MCI's final goal in the second half.

Boothbay, which graduates four seniors, has battled illnesses and injuries throughout the season. “Mononucleosis limited one of our seniors and we had several players that suffered from impact injuries as the result of very dry field conditions this year,” said Jordan. “We were never sure from one game to the next how many players we had available. Last Wednesday against MCI, we had a few players who were dealing with a stomach 'bug'.”

In reviewing the season, Jordan said, “When we started in August, we had three goals for our season; 1) Be a competitive member of the Mountain Valley Conference and challenge all teams we played; 2) To have success this season, we knew we had to improve our defensive play and limit the number of goals we gave up in a game; and 3) The third goal was to qualify for the tournament with a higher seed than 2014.

“Coach (Lauren) Brown (assistant and junior varsity coach) and I are very pleased of out team development throughout our season. All but one of our games was within reach; we lost two games in overtime and won one overtime game. In the games we lost, with the exception of the game against Mountain Valley, the winning goal was scored with less than 10 minutes to play.” Jordan noted that the team's record for the first half of the season was 2 and 5 and the team finished the regular season 5 and 2.

“In 2014, we scored 23 goals and gave up 37 goals to our opposition,” said Jordan. “In 2015, we outscored our opponents, 29 to 27. This was a major accomplishment for our team.”

The Lady Seahawks also accomplished their third pre-season goal.

“In 2014, the team finished ninth in our region. In 2015, we finished in seventh place,” Jordan said.

“Coach Brown and I are very pleased with the team's performance this year, players continued to grow individually and, as a team, were were successful in meeting our goals. With just four players graduating, we are very excited to see what 2016 will bring,” said Jordan.