Last fall, Maureen Perkins earned her 300th career victory as the head field hockey coach at Glastonbury High School and was inducted into the Connecticut Field Hockey Hall of Fame.

Then this season, her 24th leading the Guardians, Perkins — a 1989 graduate of Stonington High School and a member of the Bears 1987 state championship team — came back with a better, even more experienced team than last year’s.

Glastonbury (14-2) was ranked sixth in the most recent state field hockey poll and is the No. 3 seed in the Class L state tournament. The Guardians will meet No. 14 Trumbull in the first round at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Glastonbury with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals either Friday or Saturday.

“I think that’s always the goal,” Perkins said of the full-steam-ahead approach to the season. “One of our goals is always to kind of win as many games as we can. Just make a run. (Class) L is so tough. It’s so hard. We position ourselves, get in the best position we can.

“Last year we were 13-3. I think we’re moving the ball a little bit better. We only graduated three seniors last year so a huge chunk of our team returned. We have a little bit more experience. We understand the game.”

Perkins, whose friends refer to her as “Mo,” never played field hockey before high school. She credits then-Stonington coach Janis Ingham with fostering her love for the sport.

“I’m forever grateful for that,” said Perkins, who played right wing for the Bears.

She also recalls a lesson she was taught by Ingham.

“I still remember the day that Janis benched me because I dogged it,” Perkins said. “I wasn’t running as hard as I could to do something. I never did it again. I sat on the end of the bench and I thought, ‘I’m never going to let this happen again.’ She didn’t have to say anything.”

Perkins went on to play for coaches Diane Wright, then Nancy Stevens at UConn, two mentors who combined for five national championships.

Perkins lets out a laugh when asked if she ever thought of following in their footsteps.

“I never envisioned any of this as my life,” Perkins said. “Now I can’t imagine my life without it.”

As Perkins was graduating from UConn, longtime Conn College coach Anne Parmenter needed an assistant and apparently sought a recommendation from Stevens.

Perkins spent two years at Conn, then began coaching at Glastonbury, first as the freshman coach, then junior varsity. Perkins is a history teacher at Glastonbury High.

“All these things my coaches told me, I totally get it now,” Perkins said. “I think the things I took from Janis, coach Wright and coach Stevens were work hard, hold everybody accountable but you have to be accountable, too. You’ve got to have standards.

“But you have to be able to meet kids where they are. They might not be where you need them to be but if they know you believe in them, they’ll kind of get there.”

Glastonbury won the Central Connecticut Conference South Division with a record of 7-0, going 11-0 overall against league teams, including a 4-2 win over CCC North champion Hall.

Still, Perkins doesn’t stop to consider the fact that she’s a Hall of Famer, too, a two-time state champion, up there with her former coaches.

“That’s insane,” she said. “Those are my heroes, the people I’ve looked up to forever. This was never on my radar, never really part of the plan. (The accolades are) a little overwhelming. I don’t really do it for those things.

“That means I’ve had people around me like coaches and players that understand what we’re trying to do.”

Homecoming for the Wolves

The Montville girls’ soccer team ended its regular season with an 0-3-1 stretch and feeling it should have played much better.

That called for what coach April Parady-Walter termed “a reset moment” headed into the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II tournament, especially with the two ECC championship games scheduled to be played on the turf at Montville.

Montville, the No. 6 seed, responded by beating No. 3 Plainfield 2-1 in double overtime in the quarterfinals on a goal by Nicole Hudson assisted by Sydney Cook. In the semis, Jada Cheung scored twice and the Wolves blanked No. 2 Wheeler 4-0.

And suddenly, Montville was slated for a home game in the ECC final against No. 1 Lyman Memorial.

“Throughout the season, if we lost it was by one, so I believe those last games (4-1 loss to Valley Regional, 4-0 loss to Lyman) were a big wakeup call for us,” Parady-Walter said, “where we knew if we were going to have a run in the ECCs, we would need to dig a bit deeper in our tanks.”

Lyman won the Division II title over Montville 3-0. No. 23 Montville (8-10-2) finished the season Monday with a 7-1 loss to 10th-seeded Cromwell in the Class S state tournament.

Said Parady-Walter: “Montville had some highs and lows throughout the season. Unfortunately, (Monday) and the final score was not a true reflection of the hard work and grit we played with. Montville put up a good battle against a well-seasoned and mature group from Cromwell.”

The newest Viking

East Lyme field hockey coach Emily Murray and her husband Mike welcomed their baby boy early in the morning on Halloween, the same day the Vikings defeated Fitch 4-2 in the ECC tournament semifinals.

Murray called becoming a mom “an empowering and beautiful experience.”

And that’s how Murray came to miss the ECC tournament, in which the Vikings reached the final before falling to Stonington.

“I did not get a chance to watch either of the ECC games but was kept up to date with the scores afterwards,” Murray said. “What a great experience the girls had.

“Caroline (Regan, assistant coach) has been doing awesome with these ladies. She has been keeping me up to date and in the loop. It’s great to have her and the coaching staff to help out while I am gone.”

Signed, sealed, delivered

Old Lyme will have two athletes sign National Letters of Intent on Wednesday to compete for Division I colleges. Emma Bayor, The Day’s All-Area Softball Player of the Year, will sign with Marist and Hannah Thomas (crew) will sign with Tennessee.

At Stonington, there will also be a ceremony Wednesday as Mia Bottone, a member of the girls’ crew team, signs with Division I Sacred Heart.

v.fulkerson@theday.com