GARDINER — Besieged by injury and illness, the Gardiner field hockey team found a way to pull out a tough victory Monday afternoon.

The Tigers rallied at Hoch Field to hold off Nokomis 2-1 in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B field hockey matchup with plenty of Heal points on the line. Gardiner, which had a six-game winning streak snapped Saturday, got goals from Taryn Nichols and McKenna Johnson, as well as a nine-save performance from Cassidy Clark.

“A week ago, I got a picture from one of my kiddos in the hospital with appendicitis,” said coach Sharon Gallant, who called two freshmen up to the varsity for the contest. “(Sunday) night, I got a picture from another kiddo with a kidney infection. (Monday), one of my kids was in urgent care with an upper respiratory virus. I’ve got three others that can’t breathe, but I had to play them because we have no one else.

“I did not know what (Monday) would be, but I’m pretty pleased with what we did.”

Gardiner (7-1-0) may not have played its best game of the season, but it did play its best game under the circumstances. The Tigers were without three members of their starting lineup, including two forwards and one-half of its center back pairing.

Dewey Clary and Gabi Sousa combined in front of Clark to keep the Warriors (5-3-1) — who had their own six-game unbeaten streak ended against Cony over the weekend — at bay.

Gardiner’s Makenna Johnson fires a shot on the Nokomis cage during a field hockey game Monday in Gardiner. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

“I feel like we played pretty well, especially with so many on our team dropping like flies,” Clary said.

“It makes me a little nervous when we have to switch people around, I’m not going to lie,” Clark added. “I feel like we did a good passing and a lot of good talking. I heard them communicating a lot in front of me.”

Nichols’ goal midway through the first quarter came during one of Gardiner’s most productive offensive stretches of the afternoon, but it was Johnson — one of just two healthy substitutes on the Tiger bench — who earned the hosts some much-needed breathing room.

No pun intended.

“We had a tough loss on Saturday (at Belfast), and we wanted to come back and redeem ourselves,” Clary said. “With what we had (Monday) for players, I think we did a really good job working together.”

Only 3:10 after Johnson’s tally, Nokomis got on the board when Jenna Baird was camped at the left side of the cage to swat home a blocked attempt from teammate Brianna Townsend. Baird had started the play with a penalty corner, one of 12 the Warriors earned.

But Baird’s goal was the final true offensive foray for Nokomis, which was held to one shot in the fourth quarter — a shot Clark came off her line to stop 7 yards in front of the cage.

“I just have to watch where the ball is going (on corners) and let my defenders know who I think they’re going to pass it to,” Clark said. “I just have to track the ball and be ready for a shot.”

“She was just phenomenal in the cage today,” Gallant added.

Gardiner has Tuesday off before getting back to work Wednesday against Oceanside. Gallant hopes the strange rash of illnesses running through her squad will have subsided by then.

“I was having a heart attack most of the day,” Gallant said with a laugh. “I started thinking, ‘Are they punking me? Is this real?’ I was just wondering, ‘What is going on? What are you guys doing to me?’”