BATH

In two games played against its “Battle of the Bridge” rivals this season, the Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team outscored Mt. Ararat 31-7.

Playing the Eagles for a third time on Saturday, in an Eastern Maine Class A semifinal, there was little reason to believe the Dragons were going to have trouble, even though the game was moved to the McMann Field turf after Friday’s rain made Brunswick’s field unplayable.

But, playoffs can bring out the best and worst of teams, and for a half, fourth-seeded Mt. Ararat hung right in there with the top-seeded Dragons, trailing just 4-1 and not allowing Brunswick to use its superior transition game.

Brunswick put together a solid second half, outscoring the Eagles 7-0 for an 11-1 win, but Don Glover’s Dragons learned a valuable lesson … never take anyone, especially your biggest rival, for granted.

“We preached to them very vocally about not taking them lightly,” said Glover, whose squad is slated to host Cheverus Wednesday in the Eastern A title game at 6:30 p.m. “If you don’t take care of business now, you lose the right to go to practice. The playoffs are all new.

“It is a natural rivalry, and it is postseason, and regardless of scores in the past games, it is the playoffs. You hear about it all the time, the eight team beating the one team. We were on a neutral turf field, and we knew they were going to bring it.”

Mt. Ararat senior goaltender Connor Read tried to steal the show. He turned aside 16 shots, and received solid play from defensemen Sean Bolduc, Nick Graney and Chandler Field, along with long-stick midfielders Zack Curtis, Devin Monteiro and Mike Tran.

“Connor gave us 100 percent, everything that he had, and made so many fantastic saves, many from six-yards out,” said head coach Matt Haskell of Read. “We tried to slow it down and play six-onsix.”

Eagles lacrosse

Brunswick opened the scoring 3:14 in as Lucas McCue fired a high shot past Read.

But, the Eagles shut things down from there, keeping the Dragons to the outside and ending the first quarter down just 1-0.

Beginning the second quarter a man-up, Mt. Ararat put the pressure on and scored moments after the Brunswick penalty ended, with Kyle Lussier, assisted by Ben Bishop, sending the ball past Brunswick goaltender Chris MrVichin (three saves).

Brunswick countered. Led by face-off specialist Ian Schlosser (won 11 of 15 faceoffs), the Dragons owned possession the remainder of the half and received goals from Josh Dorr (assisted by McCue), Matt Brooks (Cam Glover) and Kyle Woodruff (Brooks) for a 4-1 halftime lead.

“We tried to possess the ball and not play a run-andgun game with them,” said Read, who had five saves at the intermission. “We felt like we were frustrating them, and we were licking our chops at the half. We have no regrets today. We left it all on the field.”

“They held us down a bit on our transition game, but the last two weeks we have been practicing less transition, knowing that if you get the right to play on June 21, it is going to be hot,” said coach Glover. “We were doing OK, but not making the extra intelligent decisions that allowed them to get possession. At halftime, we wanted them to focus on our strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses.”

Two goals by Brunswick’s Cam Glover two minutes apart, both assisted by Tyler Hillis, upped the Dragons’ lead to 6-1 after three quarters.

“We felt good at the half,” said Haskell. “We were frustrated that we were not producing enough offensive pressure. They punched in two right off the bat in the second half, and they fed off of that. The second half they found some chinks in the armor.”

“We needed a good start in the second half to relax, and we were playing really nervous in the first half,” said Brunswick’s TJ Sullivan.

In the fourth, Brunswick put the game away against the tiring Eagles, outshooting

Mt. Ararat 16-1 and scoring five times to pull away for the 11-1 win.

The loss ended the playing careers of Mt. Ararat seniors Nate Mackenzie, Jack Mickles, Jordon Castonguay, Jeremy Williams, Nick Dow, Graney, Curtis, Bishop, Bolduc, Monteiro, Read and Field.

“Those seniors did a fantastic job all season long. They have rubbed off on those freshmen,” said Haskell.

Cam Glover led Brunswick with three goals and an assist, while Sullivan chipped in three fourthquarter goals. McCue and Hillis each had three points (one goal, two assists), while Owen Ginty dished out two helpers, Brooks one goal and an assist, Joseph Coulombe a goal, and Christian Glover and Ezra Rogers one assist apiece.

Brunswick 11,
Mt. Ararat 1

Eastern Maine Class A Semifinal
At McMann Field in Bath
No.4Mt.Ararat—0100— 1
No.1Brunswick—1325—11
Goals — (MA) Kyle Lussier; (B)
Lucas McCue, Josh Dorr, Matt
Brooks, Cam Glover 3, Tyler
Hillis, TJ Sullivan 3, Joseph
Coulombe.
Assists — (MA) Ben Bishop; (B)
Owen Ginty 2, Ezra Rogers,
Christian Glover, Tyler Hillis 2,
Cam Glover, Matt Brooks, Lucas
McCue 2.
Shots on goal — Brunswick 27,
Mt. Ararat 5.
Saves — (MA) Connor Read 16;
(B) Chris MrVichin 3, Logan Ouellette 1.
Man-up opportunities — Mt.
Ararat 0-1; Brunswick 3-3.
Records — Brunswick 12-2, Mt.
Ararat 9-5.
Up next for Brunswick —
Wednesday at home for Eastern A
final against Cheverus, 6:30 p.m.