BELFAST – The Coastal Field Hockey Championship has taken place in Belfast and Camden Hills for many, many years. Again this year the Belfast team played host to the event despite some changes in the day.

Scores used to be logged with teams scoring one point for a shot on goal and five points for each goal. The tournament champion was determined by total points scored in all four games that each team plays. 

This year the coaches, according to Belfast coach Jan Holmes-Jackson, asked just to have it be a day of scrimmage games with the five teams from Belfast, Oceanside, Camden Hills, Mount View and Brewer. 

So this year for the first time in many years there will be no tournament champion. They kept score of the games on the scoreboard, but again according to Holmes-Jackson, they would not be recorded. 

While the change in the type of event made the day take on a different feeling, the girls from each team still went out in brutal humid weather conditions and gave each game everything they had. 

All five teams looked to be very competitive with each team from the Midcoast looking like they are close to being ready. While there was not a lot of scoring going on early today, it was the defense from each team that was causing the problem. In the first two games, there were not many shots even taken as each team had a hard time penetrating the goal. 

Most of the teams, Belfast, Camden Hills and Oceanside will still compete in Class B North this season. Gone are East and West it is now North and South. Mount View will play in Class C North while Brewer will play in Class A North.

Belfast opens the season Sept. 3 at 4 p.m. when they host Winslow. Camden Hills will host Waterville the same day and time, and Oceanside will travel to Gardiner for a 4 p.m. face-off. Mount View will travel to Leavitt.

Brewer will open the season Sept. 2 when they travel to perennial winners Skowhegan. For the past 14 years straight Skowhegan has played in the Class A State Championship winning 12 of those games. 

Field Hockey plays a 14 game season with the final game scheduled for Oct. 14. The preliminary games begin Oct. 17, quarterfinals the 20th, semifinals the 24th and regional championships the 27th with the North at Thomas College and the South TBA. 

The state championship game this year will be held Oct. 31 at the University of Maine - Orono. 

Click here for a photo gallery from the Belfast and Camden Hills game.

Click here for a photo gallery from the Mount View and Oceanside game. 

Ron Hawkes can be reached at sports@penbaypilot.com