AUGUSTA – Cheverus rallied from a three-goal second half deficit to beat Cony 11-9 Saturday in an Eastern Class A girls’ lacrosse semifinal game played in a constant rain.
Sixth-seeded Cheverus improved to 5-9 and will play No. 1 Brunswick (10-3) for the regional title on Wednesday.
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Cheverus scored four unanswered goals to secure the win. Senior Paige Lucas ignited the comeback, hitting a bouncing shot from 10 yards out with 10:26 left in the game, cutting the Rams’ lead to 9-8.
Back-to-back goals by freshman Elyse Caiazzo gave Cheverus a 10-9 advantage. Caiazzo knotted the game on an assist from Anna McDonough, firing in a shot from close range. Caiazzo then connected from 10 yards out to give the Stags the lead.
“We were able to spread out and took care of the ball,” said Lucas, who gave the Cheverus a two-goal lead with 8:22 remaining.
Patience proved to be a key for Cheverus, which passed the ball around the perimeter for nearly three minutes before finding an opening for Caiazzo, who’s goal with 13:10 left narrowed Cony’s lead to 8-7.
“We talked at halftime about how we needed more movement,” Cheverus Coach Jamie Chamberlain said. “We have a very young team and Cony was putting a lot of pressure on us, so we needed to turn things around.”
Cony dominated play for most of the first half, earning a 5-3 halftime lead when Hayley Lachance scored from just outside the crease with 5.3 seconds left.
“Our zone defense did well for a long time, then we mentally lost focus,” Cony Coach Gretchen Livingston said. “We didn’t respond well to their intensity.”
Sarah LaQuerre surprised the Rams, scoring just 26 seconds in the second half and slicing Cony’s lead to 5-4. Mia Diplock responded, scoring twice to push Cony’s lead to three just five minutes into the second half.
Caiazzo, Willard and Lucas scored three goals each for Cheverus, which made the Eastern A tournament on the last day of the regular season, rallying in the final minutes of the game to defeat powerful Western A opponent Gorham 15-14.
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