Cheverus field hockey shows poise in comeback win over Biddeford
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Sydney Brunelle of Cheverus points towards the Stags bench after Avery Tinker, far left, scored a goal to tie the game 1-1 during Wednesday’s game against Biddeford. Cheverus won 2-1. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
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BIDDEFORD — For a squad that never loses, the Cheverus field hockey team sure knows what to do when it looks like it may be about to happen.
Ava Martin tipped in Mary McCartney’s shot with 1:53 left in the game, and the Stags scored two fourth-quarter goals to beat Biddeford, 2-1, in a showdown between Class A South favorites.
Avery Tinker also scored for Cheverus (12-0), which has now won 29 straight games and has gone unbeaten in its last 86 regular-season games going back to 2021.
Biddeford, which got a goal from Mia Mariello, fell to 10-2 with its fifth straight one-goal loss to the Stags. Biddeford’s last eight losses, dating back to 2023, have all been against Cheverus.
“It’s just a great showing of what we can do,” said Martin, one of the team’s captains along with Sydney Brunelle, who helped set up her winner. “These are high-pressure games, and going into playoff season, we’re ready to go. We know we can dig ourselves out of anything that we put ourselves in.”
Coming up clutch
• With 11 minutes to go and the score tied, McCartney had the ball on her stick alone in front of the net but pulled the shot wide left.
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Soon, she got another chance. With just under two minutes to go, Martin inserted a corner to Brunelle, who quickly passed left to McCartney. The senior’s shot was quick and true, and was likely heading in even without Martin making the tip.
“It felt great. Anything you can do for your team, it’s going to be great,” McCartney said. “I was pretty sure it was coming (to me). In that moment, the adrenaline kind of kicks in.”
• Cheverus got two corners in the fourth quarter and converted on both. It wasn’t an accident.
“We plan everything out, exactly where we want to put it,” Martin said. “Sometimes Sydney or Brooke (Brunelle) reads it at the top, but most of the time it’s planned.”
Playing with poise
• Close calls are nothing new for Cheverus, which erased fourth-quarter deficits twice against Biddeford last year. Even this year, Cheverus scored two goals in the final five minutes, including the winner with no time left, in a 4-3 win over Sanford/Kennebunk.
• When the Stags went down 1-0 on Mariello’s goal off an Aubrey Forcier assist with 4:40 left in the third quarter, they again knew what to do. Early in the fourth, Sydney Brunelle got the insert on a corner, hesitated, then ripped a shot that Tinker redirected into the goal with 13:33 remaining.
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“I do think experience (helps),” coach Andrea Musante said. “We’ve been in this situation multiple times, so I think when you don’t fold under the pressure and you know that you can do it, it’s built that confidence to do it again.”
Unsung hero
• Biddeford’s pressure throughout the game forced the Cheverus defense to step up, and sophomore Julia Blais found herself in the middle of multiple key stops. In the first quarter, she broke up a Mariello pass into the circle to derail a threat.
She broke up another feed in the second quarter, preventing Addison Barrs from getting the ball in scoring position.
“When it comes her way, I don’t get nervous,” Musante said. “I feel a little bit of relief, because I know she’s going to smoothly shoot the ball (or) get it out wide.”
Coming close
• While her team fell just short, Tigers coach Caitlin Tremberth took a complimentary approach, saying her team played better and more composed than it did in a 3-2 loss to Cheverus earlier in the year.
“They played amazing,” she said. “Each one gave everything they’ve got, and the only difference that’s really separating us and them is that they have that experience in these tough moments.
“We have the heart, we have the hustle, we have all those things, and we have the skill. It’s just a matter of finishing and capitalizing. That’s the final piece. We’ve got to be all gamers.”
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Tagged: biddeford tigers, cheverus stags
Drew Bonifant covers sports for the Press Herald, with beats in high school football, basketball and baseball. He was previously part of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel sports team. A New Hampshire. More by Drew Bonifant
