By David Harry
Staff Writer

One small tip set off a mighty roar in Yarmouth as the Scarborough High School field hockey team won its first state championship last Saturday.
Senior midfielder Ellie Morin tipped in a free hit by senior co-captain Heather Carrier with 3 minutes, 16 seconds played in overtime as the Red Storm ended the eight-year reign of Skowhegan High School as the state Class A champions.
The game was played at Yarmouth High School and the 2-1 score reversed the outcome of last year’s two-overtime championship game between the teams.
“I saw it coming at me, and I’m like, ‘This isn’t going to count unless I touch it.’ I just stuck my stick in there and it bounced just a little bit,” Morin said about the winning shot Saturday.
“We do these kinds of drills, you just get a piece of the stick,” Scarborough Coach Kerry Mariello said about Morin’s goal and whether it would be allowed. “We train and train and somebody got a piece of it.”
Unsure at first the goal would count, the Scarborough bench and players waited before erupting into a raucous celebration that brought Mariello to tears.
“You never know the feeling until you have it,” Mariello said.
Winning the state title had been the only goal for the team, Mariello, senior co-captain Brittany Ross and senior goalie Jordi Saunders said, and beating Skowhegan for the championship was the ultimate desire.
It took a come-from-behind effort to get the job done, as Ross tied the game at 1 with a goal with 5:27 left in the game.
“We knew what we had to do, and I knew the goalie plays out, so I hit it in and hoped for the best, Ross said. “Last year, I did that, and they always have someone else in the goal.”
After a scoreless first half, Skowhegan struck first on a goal by senior co-captain Mallory Hancock that worked its way through a crowd to the goal 3:19 into the second half.
The Skowhegan goalie, senior Megan Hancock, one of four Hancock sisters on the team, turned away threats throughout the game by charging from the net as her defense rallied around her.
“She is a very aggressive goalie,” Mariello said. “The way to answer it is hopefully sneak one by her.”
With 13:27 left in the game, Mariello called a timeout to rally the Red Storm.
“I told them I believed in them,” she said.
The Red Storm finished its season 18-0, and allowed only 9 goals in the regular season. None of which mattered unless the championship title was coming to Scarborough.
Mariello, in her eighth year as Scarborough coach, said her team stayed focused all year on becoming champions, but knew a match against Skowhegan would be an even one.
The teams lost few players from last year to graduation. Mariello said 13 seniors were involved in last year’s game as well.
“We are as focused as we have ever been,” she said before the game.
Morin said the team was unfazed by Skowhegan’s dominance of Class A play.
“We came out ready to play and we dominated the field, I think,” Morin said.
From her end in the goal, Saunders said the game was tense.
 “They gave me a run for my money and I like that competition,” she said. “I showed I could play up to it this time.”
At the same time, Saunders said it was hard to watch her teammates pressure Skowhegan goalie Hancock and get turned aside.
Ross summarized life at the top of the field hockey mountain.
“There’s no greater feeling than this: I’ll remember it for the rest of my life,” she said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219