YARMOUTH — The top seed was wrapped up. But Yarmouth field hockey coach Bre Page didn’t want her team going into the regular-season finale with any sense of complacency.
“No one, I feel like, ever understands the (Heal) point system, so we didn’t know what was going to happen,” she said.
Instead, the Clippers took the opportunity to head to the postseason on a rousing note. Erica O’Connor scored off a Maya Nasveschuk assist with 2:09 to play, and Yarmouth wrapped up a perfect regular season with a 1-0 victory over Freeport in a matchup of Class B South’s top two teams, and last two champions.
Yarmouth went into the game ranked second in the Varsity Maine poll. Freeport was ranked seventh.
“It was back and forth, I know my girls are gassed and I assume Freeport probably feels the same way,” Page said. “It was just whoever was going to tuck that one goal in today.”
Once again, it was Yarmouth (14-0), striking in similar fashion to the game-winner it got from Nasveschuk in overtime of a 2-1 victory over the Falcons (11-3) two weeks prior.
“I’m just really happy that our team could do it,” O’Connor said. “We all know that they’re such a good team, and we can never let our guard down.”
The winner
• It felt like deja vu. Two weeks ago, Clippers goalie Emma Shannon kicked a save over to Nasveschuk in overtime, starting a rush that led to the sophomore burying the winning goal. This time, with the game again in its final minutes, it was Celia Zinman who had a pass up to Nasveschuk to spark an attack.
“It’s always hard in these high-stress games to think that many steps ahead,” Zinman said. “But I know if I get the ball to Maya, I have enough trust in her that she’ll get it where it needs to go. She did exactly that.”
• Nasveschuk dribbled the ball into the circle, then sent a pass back to her following teammates. The ball found O’Connor, who immediately hit a shot that slid into the net for the go-ahead score.
It was an example of the chemistry shared by the two forwards, who also play ice hockey together.
“In the moment, we just kind of clicked,” O’Connor said.
Handling pressure
• The win makes Yarmouth the clear favorite to come out of the B South region for the second straight year.
“There’s definitely a pressure that comes with that,” O’Connor said. “Because we have to live up to this, and it’s important we understand that. It doesn’t mean we’re going to be guaranteed anything.”
• Zinman echoed that point about staying focused.
“We can’t just go into it thinking ‘No. 1 seed, we’ve got this,’” Zinman said. “Playoffs are a whole other story. Right now we’re zero and zero. We can’t let any of those titles that we have now go to our head.”
Finding positives
• Freeport coach Marcia Wood was upbeat after the loss, pointing to how the Falcons competed with forward Emily Groves and midfielder Lizalyn Boudreau battling injuries, and how they played a more aggressive, confident game after struggling early in the first matchup.
“We just wanted to play better than we did last time. Mission accomplished,” she said. “We played way better this time. … We were not playing hesitant.”
• Freeport made a push for the win in the fourth, picking up four of its six corners, but never tallied the elusive goal and suffered its third loss — which, as it turns out, is an encouraging precedent.
“This would have been a great confidence boost going in,” she said, “but the last time we won states, we had lost three games.”