SOUTH BERWICK — Allie Spinney was at the top of her game Thursday against the team at the top of its division.

Spinney made 11 saves and came up big when needed to lead Thornton Academy to an 8-4 victory against Marshwood in a Western Class A girls’ lacrosse game.

The victory boosted the Golden Trojans (8-3) past the Hawks (8-3) and into first place in the Heal point standings.

“We knew it was a really big game. We just had to play our game and see how it went,” said Spinney. “We had high hopes and did what we had to do.”

One play stood out came late in the game with Thornton leading by three goals.

Marshwood freshman Lucy Albers showed off her speed and burned the Trojans’ defense to create a scoring lane. Albers ripped a shot on net but Spinney used a stick save to end the opportunity.

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“You can’t defend perfectly all the time. There’s going to be breakdowns,” said Thornton Coach Craig Agreste. “I like Allie, I like Allie a lot. I like having her in net for us and I know she’s going to come up with big saves in big moments and she did today.”

Thornton led 3-2 with 21:11 remaining but put the game away by scoring four of the next five goals.

“A well-coached, well-managed game by them,” said Marshwood Coach Bernie Marvin. “We took some poor shots along with (Spinney) making some decent saves.”

Lindsey Poirier, who had three goals on nine shots for Marshwood, scored her second goal of the game to bring the Hawks within 3-2 before the Trojans pulled away.

“Today was a great team effort. Defensively our goalie was excellent,” said Agreste. “Allie played a great game; (she) made some real key saves against probably the two individual best players in the league, in my opinion, for them. I’m real happy with how it went today.”

A big issue for Marshwood was an inability to gain, then maintain possession.

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“There were key saves but I had the girls right in front of me to help back me up. They were talking the entire time so I knew exactly where players were,” said Spinney.

For large chunks of the second half, Thornton Academy maintained possession in the offensive zone.

“It was our ‘throw-catch’ coupled with their ride. That’s not a good combination for winning lacrosse,” said Marvin. “They beat us to a lot of 50-50 balls and held on, very patient. They took opportunities we gave them and they capitalized on them. They’re a good lacrosse team.”

Faith Sinclair and Hannah McAlary each scored two goals for the Trojans, and Paige LeBlanc chipped in with three assists.

“You haven’t seen the best of us yet,” said Agreste.

Hannah Costin scored a goal for Marshwood.

“We need to raise our intensity level a little bit. We haven’t had many games like this, (games) that have been tight; it’s good for us before the playoffs,” said Marvin.

“I’m happy that we had a game like this; it gave us a bunch of stuff to work on. Going forward, this should help us out. If not, the end of the season will come quickly.”


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