As the rain poured down on Wednesday, both Mt. Ararat High School girls lacrosse coach Sam Chard and Brunswick leader Steph Fisher implored their fellow athletic directors to get the game in by any means.
For the second time, Mt. Ararat came out on top, holding off a Dragons rally for a 9-6 win, giving the Eagles a 5-5 mark.
On the other side, Brunswick fell to 4-5 and visits Lewiston today.
“I knew this game was happening,” said Fisher. “If we didn’t have it today, I don’t know when we could have played it. I knew their field was going to be like a sponge, so we didn’t want to play there. We have played on this turf a couple of times, and it is definitely better for everyone.”
“It was important to get this one in, and we have a tough game on Saturday against Cony,” agreed Chard.
In an important game for both squads (Mt. Ararat was seventh in the Eastern A Heal Point Standings; Brunswick eighth), the Eagles rode the hot goaltending of Bailey Sullivan in the first half to claim a 4-2 halftime lead.
“Bailey made some great saves early,” said Chard after watching his netminder turn aside seven Dragon shots in the first half, eight in the game. “Brunswick could have been up two or three goals. Her saves really changed the momentum.”
“Bailey is a very strong goalie,” said Fisher. “She is very dynamic and sometimes faking doesn’t help. We needed to make more passes and we did better at that in the second half.”
Free position
Mt. Ararat opened the scoring 1:28 in as Carly Raymond converted a free-position shot.
Brunswick answered on a Sarah Judd goal, assisted by Anna McMillan, and after Erin Tome gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead (again on a free position), the Dragons tied the game when Carly Nicholson took a pass from Judd and slipped a shot past Sullivan with 9:03 left until halftime.
The Eagles began doubleteaming Dragon forwards, and back-to-back goals by Raymond (assisted by Sierra Gilley) and Rebecca Schuman (free position) gave Mt. Ararat a two-goal lead at the break.
Mt. Ararat claimed a 6-2 advantage in the early stages of the second half, with Gilley scoring off a feed from Schuman, and Alison Nolan forcing a turnover and bouncing a shot past Brunswick goaltender EmaLeigh Aschbrenner (eight saves).
“Once we calmed down, we were able to take control of the game,” said Gilley after tallying three goals in the second half. “Our defense really stepped up, and that is something that we have really focused on.”
Brunswick made a push, getting a goal each from Jenna Bailey, Sydney Anderson and Nicholson to close to 6-5.
“The run really got the girls motivated and showed that they can come back, and hopefully we keep that confidence against Lewiston,” said Fisher, who watched the run come to an end when Gilley scored from a free position for a 7-5 lead with 6:09 remaining.”
Raymond’s third goal was answered by McMillan to make for an 8-6 contest with 3:39 left. Gilley put the Dragons away with 58 ticks on the clock.
“Our defense played really well, and has been working hard on communication,” said Chard, who praised Jordan Chase, Schuman, Libby Davis, Gilley and Tome. “We made some mistakes, but we doubled up really well. In the second half we started to wear them down, and our passing in transition was really good today.”
McMillan felt that her team put Saturday’s tough overtime loss to South Portland (8-7) behind them.
“We know that Mt. Ararat is our rival, and we focused more on that than the loss on Saturday,” said McMillan.
Mt. Ararat held a 22-18 shots advantage, with Brunswick claiming a 10-7 edge in draw controls thanks to the work of midfielder Grace Rabinowitz.
Judd and Rabinowitz had five groundballs each for the Dragons, with defenders Sasha Hampton and Shannah Duffy picking up three. Schuman led the Eagles with five groundballs, with four each coming from Chase, Davis and Tome.
Mt. Ararat 9,
Brunswick 6
| At | Bowdoin | College | |||||
| Brunswick | — | 2 | 4 | — 6 | |||
| Mt. | Ararat | — | 4 | 5 | — 9 | ||
Goals — (B) Sarah Judd, Anna
McMillan, Caley Nicholson 2, Jenna
Bailey, Sydney Anderson; (MA) Carly
Raymond 3, Erin Tome, Sierra Gilley
3, Rebecca Schuman, Alison Nolan.
Assists — (B) Sarah Judd; (MA)
Rebecca Schuman, Sierra Gilley,
Carly Raymond.
Shots — Mt. Ararat 22, Brunswick
18.
Saves —(B) EmaLeigh Aschbrenner
8; (MA) Bailey Sullivan 8.
Draw controls — Brunswick 10, Mt.
Ararat 7.
Records — Mt. Ararat 5-5,
Brunswick 4-5.
Up next for Brunswick — Today at
Lewiston.
Up next for Mt. Ararat — Saturday at
home against Cony.
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