"I'm wrapping presents," Margaret Veazie explained to a caller on the telephone.

Brittany Veazie likely won't need much else for the holidays after picking up the Miss Maine Field Hockey trophy at a banquet Sunday night.

Veazie emerged as the winner of the trophy, which is awarded by the Maine Field Hockey Coaches Association, from a field of three finalists. Midfielder Katie Curran of South Portland and Massabesic of Waterboro forward Stephanie Walker were the other finalists.

"I was definitely surprised," Brittany Veazie said Monday evening. "It's really awesome. I had kind of thought about it before but I never went out and played a game and thought, I can do this to get votes."

A center midfielder and four-year starter for the Tigers, Veazie scored 25 goals and tallied 38 assists in her senior year. She finished with about 50 goals and 80 assists for her career.

Dexter has won 72 games in a row, including four straight state titles.

Veazie's sister Kristy was a Miss Maine Field Hockey finalist in 2001.

Sunday's banquet, which was held at the Augusta Civic Center, honored the all-state players and winners of other special awards.

"A lot of girls came and I knew a lot of them from playing Maine Event [an elite travel team]," Brittany Veazie said. "A lot of them congratulated me. A lot of the Central girls did, too."

The Tigers beat the Red Devils of Corinth 4-0 in the Eastern Maine Class C final last month.

Veazie has narrowed down her college choices to the University of Maine, University of Massachusetts, and Division III Springfield College in Massachusetts.

Springfield, a Division III school, does not offer athletic scholarships but would likely give her academic scholarship, she said.

The three Miss Maine finalists are chosen based on all-state votes from coaches. The top three senior vote-getters are named finalists.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Tuesday, December 16, 2003 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."