Plymouth clears the ball out of their zone to escape USM’S attack. Amy Ouellette stops it with a quick stick at midfield. She passes it to the sideline where Deedra Beveridge is open. Beveridge dribbles up-field and passes to Renee Heath. The attack is on.
Heath eludes a couple of defenders, leaving them dumbfounded in the open field. Heath passes to the corner where Kayla Vaughan is at a full sprint behind the defense. Vaughan hits Sarah Dolley open near the goal. She passes to Heath and Plymouth’s goalkeeper snuffs the shot.
The Plymouth defense, with one strike of the stick, slaps the ball downfield, again clearing it out of their zone. USM intercepts and begins another attack.
This was the story of the second-half last Wednesday. Plymouth managed to sneak out with a victory, holding off a well-organized and relentless stampede of USM threats.
The final score was Plymouth one, USM zero. A first-half goal was the only score of the day. This came after a USM defensive letdown and an opportune breakaway that Plymouth capitalized on.
The loss ended a six-game win streak by the Husky field hockey team.
The streak was “a good surprise,” said senior co-captain Renee Heath. “We have been working hard and playing together.”
“We really clicked,” said co-captain Deedra Beveridge. “We have a lot of good players, not a couple of superstars. It is our team as a whole.”
Plymouth State and USM had been tied for first in the Little East conference with records of 3-0. Plymouth has only given up one goal this season. This was apparent when they did not allow a dominating USM team to score in the second half.
Now USM falls to number two in the conference, determined to defeat Plymouth if they meet again in the playoffs.
“It will make them angry,” said coach Bonny Brown-Denico of the first loss in weeks. “Plymouth was a little pushy and we allowed them to shove us around in the first half.”
Brown-Denico’s approach to this game was to “hold our ground.” At Tuesday’s practice she made her players stand in defensive positions, while she walked around shoving them and insisting they hold their ground. Brown-Denico knew what to expect of Plymouth’s aggressive team.
The win streak was significant for this team, beating the University of Maine at Farmington for the first time in three years. They also took down Bates at Lewiston, on turf, and defeated New England College, all of which were important contests.
“From here we no longer have first place to lose,” said co-captain Oullette. “We’ll learn from our mistakes and win more games.”
“Our improvement in the second half was an accomplishment in itself. We showed we could pick it up after the first half,” said Beveridge.
The team is communicating and moving the ball up-field with precision. After an unexpected streak by such a young team, the Husky field hockey team is only one goal out of first place. They proved that playing a high-stakes game against a quality team is not something that they are incapable of.
After the loss Beveridge stood with fiery eyes. “We’ll have to chalk this one up to experience,” she said, before taking a long drink from her water bottle.