Greely 12

Gorham 7

Eric Thompson scored four goals and Dylan Beckelman added three more as the Greely boys lacrosse team defeated Gorham 12-7 Tuesday night. Brendan Ryan paced Gorham with two goals and John Allen made 25 saves for the Rams.

“We threw the ball away a lot,” said Gorham head coach TJ Bell. “We didn’t take care of the ball. In our two losses this year, that’s what happened; we didn’t take care of the ball. In the games we won, we did a good job taking care of the ball. Because of that, we didn’t shoot enough. We’re going to win games if we take a lot of shots. We just didn’t put ourselves in a good position.”

The teams appeared evenly matched for the first few minutes of the game with each generating quality scoring chances. It wasn’t until five minutes passed in the first that Greely scored the game’s first goal. Beckelman scooped up a rebound and fired a shot that went in off the post for a 1-0 Rangers lead.

The Rams tied the score just 40 seconds later. Ian Ryan took a pass across the field and fired on net. His shot was on target and the game was tied.

“In the first quarter I loved what we were doing offensively,” Bell said. “To Greely’s credit-that’s an outstanding defense. It’s the best defense we’ve played this year; they are good lacrosse players.”

Shortly after the Rams tied the score, Thompson tallied his first goal of the day on bouncer from in front of the net. Then, with 3:41 to go in the first, Ethan Crosson gave Greely a 3-1 lead with an assist from Beckelman. The Rangers made it a 4-1 game with another goal just eight seconds later when Cody Greely scored. Thompson scored his second goal with 35.1 seconds left in the first. Many of the Ranger goals came off Gorham mistakes.

“It’s frustrating when you lose a game like this with a lot of mistakes,” Bell said. “I know these kids and I have seen them play and I know they have the ability to pass and catch. It’s something that we’ll work on and next game we’ll do a better job.”

Luc Robitaille scored the second Gorham goal 39 seconds into the second quarter. But the Rangers negated that goal shortly thereafter when Beckelman scored again. Mike Greatorex pulled the Rams back to within three with 5:24 to go in the half. But Crosson scored for Greely and the Rangers took a 7-3 lead into the break.

“If we can get into better situations defensively and not have a 10 minute defensive possession,” Bells said. “We have good defensive players, but they get tired. They played defense for a lot of the second quarter and that’s tough on anybody.”

Ian Ryan scored to pull the Rams within three again early in the third quarter. But Greely got three straight goals from Teddy Russell, Austin Spencer and Beckelman to take a 10-4 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Rams tried to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter and even outscored the Rangers 3-2 over the final 12 minutes. Duncan Alden scored just seven seconds into the fourth. The Rams later got two goals from Brendan Ryan midway through the fourth. Ryan’s second goal of the fourth made the score 11-7. That was as close as Gorham would get and Thompson scored for Greely with just over four minutes left.

“That’s a game in the last few years I don’t know if we would have believed we could win,” Bell said. “But the kids kept pushing and as the game went on they saw we matched up with them. With this new schedule we’re going to be matched up with a lot of teams. Minus a few mistakes, this is a one goal game.”

The loss dropped the Rams to 2-2 on the year. They are scheduled to take on Waynflete on Saturday.

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