BATH

Down 2-0 at halftime, Morse High School girls soccer coach Steve Boyce told his players not to get down, to keep their heads and spirits up.

Well, it’s amazing what one goal in the opening seconds did for the team’s morale.

The top-ranked Shipbuilders, buoyed by a Brianna Williams goal just 24 seconds into the second half, also received goals from Miracle Trimble, Paige Martin and Williams again to stave off an upset bid by No. 8 Freeport Tuesday in Western Maine Class B quarterfinal play, 4-2.

Morse improved to 13-1-1 and is scheduled to host No 4 Poland Friday afternoon, while the Falcons exited with a 7-8-1 record and will lose seniors Helen Humphrey, Macy Stowell, Rachelle Pallin, Hannah Chase, Aubrey Pennell, Amanda Miles, Jocelyn Davee, Lindsay Wold and Naomi Otis.

The game was held at Tainter Field and Morse employed a huge territorial edge over the first 40 minutes, but the opportunistic Falcons used a penalty kick by Davee and a goal by Maddie Squibb off a corner kick for a two-goal cushion.

“I’m proud of the kids because we’ve never come back from two,” said Boyce. “We’re young and to have the heart to come back I‘m just very impressed. They didn’t give up. I think it took them awhile to get into the game. But, once they did in the second half that was the good team out there.

“But, Freeport has a good team, too. They’re physical in a way that we were not used to. And it wasn’t chippy and a fun game to watch from that side (fans), but from a coach’s side, my stomach is …”

Morse came out attacking from the get-go, led by Trimble, Williams, Martin and Lauren Pelletier, while the Falcons often put six-seven players in the box and were led by defenders Emily Johnson, Lexi Dietrich, Brooke Heathco, Humphrey and Davee in front of goaltender Pennell, who kept the lines of communication open in her end.

Freeport looked to its transition game and Ashley Richardson had a nice bid wide, while Davee and Lauren Cormier hooked up.

Another Freeport foray saw goaltender Sadie Crosby make a tumbling save in traffic, but a Morse push led to a Davee penalty kick and she buried the lower left corner with 12:38 remaining to quiet the Morse crowd.

Morse led in first-half shots 8-4 and Pennell made a great save two minutes later on Williams, but a Freeport corner kick was bobbled and pushed into the goal by Squibb with 6:55 left in the opening half.

In the second half, Trimble fed Williams, who chipped a shot that was deflected by Pennell, but sailed in with 24 seconds gone.

Trimble converted a Bess Howell feed with Pennell down just four minutes later for a 2-2 game.

Richardson nearly put the Falcons ahead when she dribbled from her own 30, weaved through several defenders to close in on Crosby only to have her shot sail wide left with 13 minutes gone.

Freeport put on a 10-minute flurry with Crosby making two acrobatic saves, one on Heathco.

Morse finally went up 3-2 on an 18-yarder by Martin that sailed over Pennell’s head, and 1:12 later Williams rifled a twister that curled into the far corner from 25 yards out, a lazer that Pennell had no chance on.

Morse closed with an 18-9 shots advantage, while Freeport led in corner kicks, 5-3.

“We had our chances, but we just didn’t convert as many as we needed to,” said Freeport coach Elayna Girardin. “But, Aubrey did a great job for us and we have such strong juniors and sophomores and a few freshmen who play for us. I’ve also got people on the bench who can come in and play hard.

“It’s tough to lose and it’s tough to be up 2-0,” added Girardin. “Sometimes that’s not a great place to be in because the pressure’s on you. That goal (Morse’s first) can kind of deflate a team. But, even with those two quick goals they kept fighting after that. We have hard time scoring and a hard time finishing … that kind of bit us today.”