March 29, 2024
FIELD HOCKEY

Cronin spearheads Mustang win

THORNDIKE – The No. 2 Mount View field hockey team needed everything Lyndsey Cronin could give it in Tuesday’s Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal.

Against No. 7 Old Town, that included saving two penalty strokes and stopping a charging Coyotes team that tried to rally in the second half.

The senior goalie saved eight of nine shots, including all seven she faced after halftime, as she boosted the Mustangs to a 3-1 win and their first semifinal berth in at least four years.

The win sets up a rematch against No. 3 Belfast, which beat No. 6 Nokomis of Newport 2-1 Tuesday.

Belfast edged Mount View 2-1 in double overtime Sept. 27, their only regular-season encounter.

“They’ll be psyched,” Mount View coach Gloria Clark said. “… It’ll be a good game. Lots of energy on both sides.”

The Mustangs move to 11-4, which is the best season ever for the team’s seniors.

“It’s huge,” said senior Kristin Masessa, who had a goal and an assist. “We’ve been working all year, put more time in probably than other teams.”

Britney Bowden scored two goals for the Mustangs, while Masessa had the eventual winner with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first half.

Mount View had the lead, but Old Town (4-10-1) dominated the second half with a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal and 10 penalty corners to three for the Mustangs.

One of those shots was a penalty stroke awarded to Old Town. Cally Randall took the shot, but the ball hit Cronin in the chest and dropped.

It was the second stroke Cronin saved. The first, also by Randall, would have tied the game at 1-1, but Cronin batted down Randall’s pretty shot to the upper left side of the box.

“We dominated the second half. We owned it,” Bray said. “But their goalie is phenomenal. She just laid down in front of the cage and we could not get a ball through her. … Cally had been doing really well with strokes in practice, so today she stepped up to the line. Again, their goalie was amazing.”

Cronin said she faces about 40 penalty strokes per practice.

“I saw [Randall] doing a stutter-step to the side, and I figured I’d take my chances and it worked,” she said.

Cronin credited her defense with holding off the Coyotes in the second half.

“I could see it from the goal, [Old Town] had almost the whole field up here,” she said. “Down here I had a lot of help on defense. They were behind me every time I needed them.”

Mount View had an edge in the first half – 9-2 in shots on goal and 8-2 in penalty corners – and Bowden scored with 14:45 left on one of those corners when she inserted the ball to Masessa, waited for the pass back, and tapped in the ball.

After Old Town’s Lindsay St. Louis scored to even the game, Masessa put in a pass from Hayleigh Kein to take the lead for good.

Bowden scored an insurance goal off a pass from Mollie Arute in the second half.

“We’re just playing amazingly right now,” Bowden said. “There’s no negativity, everyone’s positive and we play as a team. It’s awesome.”

Old Town goalie Danyle Boobar stopped five of 11 shots.

The No. 5 Mount View boys soccer team also hosted No. 12 Old Town in an Eastern Maine Class B prelim at the same time on neighboring fields, so all four teams were introduced at the same time and stood for the same national anthem. Mount View won that game 1-0.


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