SCARBOROUGH — The Scarborough High boys’ lacrosse team scored on its first three shots Friday night against Windham goalie Jacob Dionne.

Those goals proved to be the difference, as it became increasingly difficult to put anything past the Eagles’ senior keeper.

Scarborough handed Windham its first loss of the season, beating the Eagles, 8-5.

Cam Nigro scored three goals and Sam Neugebauer added two as Scarborough, the top team in Class A South, improved to 8-3.

Windham (8-1) entered the game ranked fourth in Class A North, and the Eagles had not played a team with either Scarborough’s reputation or its hefty Heal point total.

Neugebauer, Marco Manfra and Nigro scored on Scarborough’s first three shots.

From that point, Dionne made 25 saves, including 11 in the third quarter. Scarborough attempted 57 shots.

“I expected to see just as many, if not more shots,” Dionne said. “I just wish I’d hit my stride in the first half. I started a little slow. I need to work on it and come back out the next game and hit that stride early.”

While Scarborough was building first-half leads of 3-0, 5-1 and 7-2, it was also winning the possession battle. The Red Storm had a 10-2 edge in face-off controls in the first half.

Just as importantly, Scarborough was able to create multiple turnovers as Windham tried to clear the ball from its defensive end.

“Tonight we were particularly effective in both clearing and riding,” Scarborough Coach Joe Hezlep said. “Our attack has been working hard to create more havoc in the midfield, and at times we did a really good job of that. As far as our defense goes, there’s not a guy we don’t trust bringing the ball over, or a guy you don’t trust throwing the ball to.”

Scarborough’s defensive specialists – standout sophomore Reece Lagerquist and seniors Colin Hayward and Wyatt Tanner – were poised and effective with the ball in their possession.

“We’re starting to figure everything out at this time of the year,” Tanner said. “That’s key, to be able to get the ball away and then be able to get it to the offense.”

Windham got a boost right before halftime when Zack Callahan converted a fast-break attack to cut the Scarborough lead to 7-3 going into the half.

Early in the third quarter, Callahan set up Zach Hough for a crisp goal.

Then Dionne went into another zone, making five superior saves in a span of two and a half minutes.

Nigro broke that string, but Scarborough did not score on its final 23 shots. Nine were saved by Dionne, one hit the post, and 13 were off target.

Dionne did not begin to play goalie until his sophomore year, when he was asked by Coach Pete Small to come out for the team because Windham needed a backup goalie.

Now, Small touts Dionne’s skill, analytic approach, and strong desire to keep improving.

“I wouldn’t say unbelievable about a lot of kids, but he is truly unbelievable,” Small said. “And the hard part is I don’t think a lot of people have seen him. People just haven’t seen this kid play.”

Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:

scraig@pressherald.com

Twitter: StevenCCraig