Buckfield’s Cora Brewster, center, and her teammates celebrate a Brewster goal during a Class D South semifinal against Old Orchard Beach last week in Buckfield. Brewster is a team captain and one of 11 seniors, along with Kai Trenoweth (15), Cori Merrill (10), Brittany Carrier (3) and Kallista Stearns (13), who have been instrumental in the Bucks reaching Saturday’s Class D state final. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Half of the players on the Buckfield girls soccer team are seniors who have spent four years chasing the moment they hope to have Saturday.

They helped Buckfield earn its first regional title since 1989 by beating Monmouth 4-0 in the Class D South final on Tuesday. Now the Bucks (15-1) have their sights on winning the program’s first state championship when they take on D North champion Penobscot Valley (15-2) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at McMann Feld in Bath.

“It would mean everything (after) last year, coming home with the silver, and then this year, coming home with gold was amazing,” Buckfield senior Cori Merrill said. “So we have both of those plaques side by side, and coming home with the state championship would be amazing.”

The Bucks fell one game short of the state final last year when they lost in the regional final 1-0 to St. Dom’s.

Led by seniors such as Merrill, Brittany Carrier and Cora Brewster, Buckfield has been even better this season, losing only once in the regular season and outscoring its two postseason opponents, Old Orchard Beach and Monmouth, 9-1.

Carrier is the team’s leading scorer with 46 goals, including hat tricks in each playoff game. Brewster is second with 15 goals. She also has nine assists. Merrill has made a big impact on defense, preventing 13 one-on-one situations with the goalies, which is second to junior Alyssa Breton’s 14. Another senior, Amelia Hill, is third with 11.

Goalkeeper Kianna Finnegan also is a senior, as is the versatile Kai Trenoweth, who filled in at goalie when Finnegan missed time after she was involved in a car crash. Finnegan has 105 saves this season, while Trenoweth has 39 saves. Trenoweth also has six assists.

“So she had to play goal some, and Kai has a lot of spirit and energy,” Buckfield coach Annette Caldwell said. “She’s been a strong player for us in the midfield and in goal. We needed her. She saved us against Richmond; we wouldn’t have won. We were down players because of sickness and injury, and I think it would have been a different ball game if Kai wasn’t in goal for us.”

The other four seniors — Anna Thone, Audrey Stimson, Maddie Wallace and Kallista Stearns — have been sidelined with injuries and illness.

Buckfield’s Cori Merrill hoists the Maine Principals Association plaque after the Bucks beat Monmouth Academy 4-0 for the Class D South title Tuesday in Winthrop. Merrill, along with goalie Kianna Finnegan (00), is one off 11 seniors who have been instrumental in the Bucks reaching Saturday’s Class D state final. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Following last year’s run to the regional final, Buckfield’s longtime coach, Larry Thornton, left to become the head coach at the UMaine-Augusta. Caldwell was hired to replace him, and while she’s a first-year coach at the varsity level, she’s a familiar face to most of this year’s senior class, many of whom she coached in seventh and eighth grade. She also is Buckfield’s track and field coach.

“(Caldwell’s) been our teacher and our mentor forever, we’ve known her for a long time, and she’s always involved in everything that we’re doing, even before this (season),” Merrill said.

Many of the Buckfield seniors also go back that far — if not farther — so they have spent years together developing into a cohesive unit.

“We never expected to come this far since freshman year,” Brewster said. “Freshman year, most of us weren’t even starting. We just wanted to work for it, we hit the gym a lot, most of us, we put in a lot of time, and we’re glad that we get to share this experience with our other close friends and our underclassmen.”

Carrier and Brewster, along with junior Chloee Bennett (10 goals, team-high 10 assists), pace the Bucks’ dynamic offense. Brewster said the on-field connection between her and Carrier began prior to their freshman season.

“It started when we went away for a soccer camp together with the Buckfield group for preseason,” Brewster said. “We went for a week, and it was at Keene State, and we had a college coach from Rhode Island help us, and she would be like, ‘They need to play together frontline,’ and then it kind of just came from that.

“Last year, I was playing more wing for the regional game, and then Coach Caldwell got the idea (this year), that we put me in middle and I send (Brittany) through balls.”

As the main goal scorer, Carrier said she knows the team relies on her to score, but the pressure to do so isn’t overwhelming

“With any sport, there’s always a pressure,” said Carrier, who also plays softball and is a sprinter in indoor and outdoor track. “But my teammates really help that, and they just make it fun and I don’t let the pressure get to me. I just get it done.”

Carrier said the 46 goals she has scored are a testament to her hard work in the offseason.

“I’ve put in a lot of extra hours this year, more than I have in previous years, and that’s helped me reach my goals,” Carrier said. “Usually Sundays, I will train and go do shooting practice. In the summer I would do a bunch of dribbling and all that stuff.”

While Carrier comes across as introverted, Caldwell said she is also a driven athlete able to crank up the energy and leadership to help the team.

Buckfield’s Brittany Carrier, center, celebrates with her teammates Tuesday after scoring her second goal of the game against Monmouth Academy. Carrier, who the team’s top scorer with 46 goals, is one of 11 seniors who have led the Bucks to Saturday’s Class D title game. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

“When we got in trouble, when they were pressured through the season with games, Brittany goes to this next level,” Caldwell said. “It’s like she shifts up two gears, and you can see it overcome her body. She’s this athletic greatness. Not only does she make herself great because of her level of commitment and skill, she makes others better around her.”

Merrill, meanwhile, is the team’s go-to extrovert, Caldwell said, and the person to lead huddles and pregame talks.

“She is a rock for us. She’s the spirit of our team,” Caldwell said. “We look to her in the huddle. Cori has this leadership where she knows the words that need to be said — ‘This is what we need to do at this moment’ — and she’s the spirit of our team.”

Caldwell said Brewster’s on- and off-field communication coupled with her positive mindset have been crucial for Buckfield. Brewster said she really had to reframe her mentality for her senior year, especially as one of the captains. Instead of overwhelming self-critiques that negatively affect her play, Brewster has focused on letting her overtly positive side show.

“Cora is this extrovert, she’s high-energy, she’s a communicator and she’s had to buy into this unitedness, this positive energy, because she wants that state ball, too,” Caldwell said. “She’s bought into this direction, she’s steering the ship with this positive energy.”

Brewster said the key for the seniors, especially the team captains — Brewster, Carrier, Hill, Merrill, Thone and Trenoweth — has been getting everyone on the same page and uniting the players socially despite being in different grades.

Buckfield goalkeeper Kianna Finnegan is swarmed by her teammates after the Bucks beat Monmouth Academy 4-0 for the Class D South girls soccer title Tuesday in Winthrop. Finnegan and Cori Merrill (10) are two of 11 seniors who have been instrumental in the Bucks reaching Saturday’s Class D state final. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Caldwell said the Bucks’ team unity has been crucial, beginning with 7-on-7 scrimmages throughout the summer. The unity extends beyond the roster to an outpouring of support from the Buckfield community.

“Tilton’s Market here provided us with pizza so that we could have a motivational dinner the night before the (regional final) game,” Caldwell said.  “The fire department came and gave us an escort out of town. … The town center, we probably had 100 people there with signs waving us on; and the school gives us a pep rally, and neighbors, not even people who have kids in school, came out.”

Buckfield has been waiting 35 years since its last state championship appearance — a 2-1 loss to Ashland in the first-ever Class D girls soccer title game in 1989.

The seniors hope the program’s next trip comes a lot sooner. Brewster they have made a concerted effort to push the younger players to carry on the tradition of Buckfield soccer beyond this season.

Caldwell said the Bucks are inspiring the next generation while making their small community proud.

“That (support) is what instills in the next generation,” Caldwell said. “These middle school kids, I want them to be part of that, I want to be that next generation, these elementary school kids seeing this. They want to be there, they want to be the next Brittany or the next Cori or Kai — whoever it is. We don’t know who we’re impacting, we’re just hoping we’re going to have a positive impact on the future of Buckfield soccer.”