After winning the regular season championship, the Mustangs were focused on completing the mission that they began back in August. They wanted to erase the past two seasons of early playoff exits by getting to the top of the conference and winning the championship. A new style of play combined with a full schedule loaded with top level opponents were the primary tools to help get them there. They went into Saturday's semi-final game against NHTI having not played in two weeks and that time was spent re-watching their previous matchup with them on Oct 4 and working hard to correct the mistakes they made in a game they won but did not play very well. By Friday they were ready and looking forward to the matchup. The Mustangs were much better at midfield than in the previous matchup but as expected, the Lynx were ready too. Central Maine opened up the scoring in the 14th minute with Natalie Tracy (Oakland, ME) finishing from a pass by Madison Drew (Sabattus, ME) to put the Mustangs up 1-0. Tracy would strike again three minutes later from a pass by Kate Blouin (Greene, ME) to double their lead. But the Lynx are not a team that will go down quietly and an unassisted goal by Tyler Harrington close the gap back to a one goal differential. That would be all the scoring in the first half with the Mustangs going into the break up 2-1. The second half saw both teams threatening but neither one able to change the score and Central Maine would hold on for the 45 minutes to secure the 2-1 win and a spot in the championship game the next day. NHTI keeper Hailey Knight finished with 16 saves on 18 shots on goal in the loss and Mustangs keeper Emma Knowles (Manchester, ME) made 16 saves on 17 shots on goal for the win.
On Sunday, the Mustangs were ready to put their fitness level to the test by coming back less than 24 hours later to do it all over again. This time they were facing the Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Science Panthers, a team they have never beaten. The Panthers were the only blemish on the Mustangs conference record this was a mountain they had to climb if they wanted to win their first conference championship. The pregame message was to set the pace early by only focusing on the first ten minutes and Central Maine came out flying at a pace they had not started a game with all season. Three minutes into the game Emily Dillman (Wales, ME) sent a ball up the side to Natalie Tracy (Oakland, ME) who put the Mustangs up 1-0 before the fans could even settle into their seats. Less than a minute later a Mya Sirois (Monmouth, ME) pass found Tracy who double the lead very quickly. Two minutes later Tracy would get the hat trick putting Central Maine up 3-0 only five minutes in the game. The Panthers would finally strike a minute later on a shot by Emily Sager that went through the hands of the Mustangs keeper. Tracy would notch her fourth of the game just past the halfway point of the first period again off a pass by Dillman. Central Maine took a 4-1 lead into the halftime break.
Even though the Mustangs knew a three-goal lead was not safe against a team like Albany, they struggled to contain the Panthers surge in the second half. Twelve minutes into the second period Albany would begin their comeback on another goal by Sager. Two minutes later the Panthers leading scorer Julia Roemer would close the gap even more off a pass by Ka'ena Kehano to make it 4-3. Both teams traded opportunities and it looked like Central Maine would hold on but with just under five minutes to go, Roemer would strike again to level the score at 4-4. Just when it looked like the game might go into overtime, Tracy would come through again with three minutes to go after receiving a quick throw-in from Blouin taking it to net to beat the Panthers keeper near post with the winning goal. The 5-4 victory gave the Mustangs their first ever YSCC Championship and the automatic bid to USCAA National Championship Tournament. Panthers keeper Mykayla Brodzinski made 22 saves on 27 shots on goal in the loss while Central Maine keeper Emma Knowles (Manchester, ME) made 22 saves on 26 shots on goal. Knowles earned Defensive Player of the Tournament, Roemer earned the award for Offensive Player of the Tournament, while Tracy earned MVP after scoring all 7 of the Mustangs goals over the two games.
