HAMPDEN — Brooke Michonski’s swollen bottom lip symbolized what has been an unusual season for Skowhegan field hockey, even though it is ending like so many others before it.
Bruised but unbowed, Michonski returned to the game and scored the insurance goal to back up Renee Wright’s game-winner as top-seeded Skowhegan collected its 14th consecutive regional title with a 2-0 win over No. 2 Lawrence in the Eastern A field hockey championship Thursday night at Hampden Academy.
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“They wanted it just as much as us, but it came down to who wanted it more,” Wright said.
Skowhegan (15-2) will face Western A champion Scarborough in a rematch of the last two state finals at 11 a.m. Saturday at Thomas College. The Indians will be shooting for their fifth consecutive state title.
Lawrence, which was seeking its first regional title, ends its season 14-3.
Wright broke the scoreless tie with 1:31 left in the first half, poking home a rebound of one of Emily Tozier’s 10 saves to the Lawrence goalie’s right.
“We just had the same game plan. When it comes to this time of year, you’ve just got to try to execute the best you can,” said Skowhegan coach Paula Doughty. “We really work on execution. We have good stick work and I think that really helped us today.”
Michonski hushed the crowd after being struck in the mouth by a ball late in the first half. After a minute or so on the turf, she walked off the field under her own power and returned for the start of the second half.
“I knew I was going to go back in,” she said. “I was not going to sit out during the game.”
The Indians wasted no time trying to double the lead, peppering Tozier with four shots in the first six minutes, including three in one flurry that featured Tozier robing Lauren LeBlanc.
Skowhegan put it away with 4:14 remaining when Cassidy Clement passed the ball across the cage to Michonski, who collected it on the backhand, sidestepped Tozier and beat her with the other side of her stick before the goalie could recover.
“We practiced yesterday on one-on-ones, so that helped a lot. I knew as soon as I got the ball I was going to dodge the goalie and go for the open cage,” Michonski said.
The teams spent the first 10 minutes of the game mostly in Skowhegan’s offensive third. Lawrence kept the ball out of the circle for the most part but didn’t tilt the field until after it called a timeout with 19:46 left.
The Bulldogs carried out a pair of attacks in a 10-minute span and just missed taking the early edge. McKenna Rogers just missed the far post in the 17th minute. Ten minutes later, Indians goalie Leah Kruse (five saves)fought off a a Hallee Parlin shot and subsequent rebound from near point-blank range to keep it scoreless.
“That’s what’s really frustrating to us is we worked so hard to get it down there and we just missed by a little bit,” Lawrence senior midfielder Kapriece Dahms said.
Some thought Skowhegan might finally miss the state final after a regular season that featured injuries, the end of their record 78-game winning streak and a rare second loss.
“We’ve had a lot of setbacks, but it brought us close as a team,” Wright said.
“We had a rough season. Even today, we still had injuries. It’s just gone on and on and on,” Doughty said. “We’ve just gone through it all year long. I don’t think anyone predicted us to be here.”
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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