BATH

The last of the area teams to take the field was the Morse High School girls lacrosse team, which finally was able to get its opener played on Thursday at McMann Field.

The Shipbuilders faced a tough Messalonskee squad from Eastern Maine Class A, and Morse gave just about as well as it took in a yellowflagged 12-9 loss to the Eagles, who improved to 2-0.

Each team was issued four yellow flags, and both squads finished the contest one player short because of the infractions. In the end, it was a four-goal Messalonskee run that did in the Shipbuilders (0-1), who will host Gardiner in the second game of a varsity lacrosse doubleheader on Saturday at 6 p.m.

“We feel really good about our defense because it’s pretty new,” said veteran Morse girls lacrosse coach Linda Levesque. “The offense needs some work, but it is the first day that we had everybody since that first day (of practice). I am pleased with our effort and what we tried to do. It was 8- 8 with 12 minutes left.”

In a back-and-forth game, it was Messalonskee forward Nathalie St. Pierre who did the most damage. She scored six goals and dished out an assist, with teammate Lydia Dexter adding three second-half goals.

The flags fly!

St. Pierre scored the game’s first goal just 20 seconds in, and assisted Lauren Pickett five minutes later for a 2-0 Eagles lead.

Levesque called a quick timeout, and her Shipbuilders responded as Paige Daigle set up Maddy Olsen 35 seconds after the stoppage to get Morse on the board.

After St. Pierre scored her second goal, Morse answered as Bronwyn Morissette and Sophie Sreden tallied to make for a 3-3 deadlock.

“In this league, nobody is going to run away with it,” said Levesque, who saw her team produce two more ties in the opening frame as the teams went to the intermission tied, 5-5.

St. Pierre had four goals at the break, while Noa Sreden and Ruth Nadeau, off an assist from Amanda Gagne, tallied for the hosts.

Messalonskee scored three of the first four goals in the second half, but again the Shipbuilders answered, getting a goal each from Gagne, Sophie Sreden and Noa Sreden, to forge an 8-8 tie with 17:28 left in regulation.

The Eagles made a gamewinning push from there, as Dexter scored a pair of goals 1:58 apart for a 10-8 lead, and a tally each from Ally Turner and St. Pierre made for a 12-8 contest with 8:08 remaining.

Morse finished off the scoring with 6: 50 left on Olsen’s second goal, but the Eagles possessed the ball for most of the remaining time to seal the win.

“ It was tough, but I thought we did pretty good overall,” said Daigle, who dished out three assists. “We learned that we need to be really strong on defense and work together as a team. We know that we can beat this team. We just need to work on a few more things.”

“Games tell you what you need to work on, and we have a big one Saturday with Gardiner,” said Levesque.

Noa Sreden led Morse with six groundballs, with Sophie Sreden credited with three. In goal, Cat Sener made eight saves, including several from point-blank range to keep her Shipbuilders close against the talented Eagles, who received five stops from netminder Sydni Collier, and five groundballs from Haley Lowell.