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Girls’ lacrosse quarterfinals: Thornton Academy, Portland, Scarborough, York win
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Girls’ lacrosse quarterfinals: Thornton Academy rallies for 9-6 win over South Portland
The Trojans wipe out a 3-1 halftime deficit to top the Red Riots.Thornton Academy’s Alana Pettaway, Hannah McAlary and Addy Paradis celebrate after defeating South Portland 9-6 in girls’ Western Class A quarterfinal on Wednesday at Saco. The Trojans trailed 3-1 at halftime, but had a big second half.SACO — Put in a quick 3-0 hole by sixth-seeded South Portland High, the Thornton Academy girls’ lacrosse team just needed a little faith in Wednesday’s Western A quarterfinal.
The third-seeded Golden Trojans (10-3) showed the faith in their ball-control offense and the aptly named Faith Sinclair scored three second-half goals, including the winner in a 9-6 victory.
The first half ended with South Portland (8-5) leading 3-1 thanks 0in part to six sterling saves from goalkeeper Lily SanGiovanni and six more misfired shots – several from Sinclair.
“We, including myself, get down on ourselves if we’re down and sometimes it takes a reality check from Coach (Craig Agreste) or one of the captains or even one of the underclassmen to realize, ‘It’s playoffs now,'” Sinclair said. “We need to keep our head in the game and keep the faith, as you may say, to stay positive.”
Sinclair scored her first quickly with an assist from Paige LeBlanc.
South Portland answered in 9 seconds as Maddie Hasson controlled a bouncing ball off the draw and fed a speeding Mary Cronin.
But Thornton scored three straight – Julianna Grondin, Sinclair and senior captain Lauren Wells – to take its first lead with 14:45 left in the game.
“After they went up 3-0 I felt like we kind of controlled the rest of the (first) half so I felt better,” Agreste said. “SanGiovanni is one of the best in the league and we wanted to make her work. We started to move her more.”
Sinclair said Thornton’s improved offensive efficiency came in part because the offensive players started getting past South Portland’s tough defenders and stopped playing, “what Coach called hero ball. In the first half we were just trying to take everything one-and-one which isn’t going to work against most good teams.”
The game went back-and-forth, tied at 5-5 and 6-6 as Hasson and Abby Letourneau (2 goals) scored goals around a Thornton tally from freshman Hannah McAlary.
“They responded when they needed to,” South Portland Coach Leslie Dyer said. “They got that momentum and we picked it up in the end when we needed to which is something I’m very proud of.”
Sinclair put Thornton ahead to stay on a slick left-handed shot as she curled around the back of the crease with 6:15 to play.
Thornton was able to regain possession and went into a delay tactic. Recognizing that it was better to risk a goal and save time on the clock, SanGiovanni daringly went to intercept a long pass to McAlary behind the goal.
McAlary barely beat SanGiovanni to the ball and was able to curl in front to score a key goal with 3:47 left.
Dyer said she fully supported SanGiovanni’s effort.
“When we found out we were playing TA we know that’s what they do, they’re a stalling team,” Dyer said. “We came in with the mentality, if it came down to that, whether we lose by one, two or three (goals) you’re still losing.”
South Portland did win the ensuing draw, but could not get the big reward as TA keeper Allie Spinney came up with her only save of the game against Kayla Brown with 2:40 to play.
Thornton’s Amanda Cyr finished the scoring on a free-position goal with 15.3 seconds left.
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Girls’ lacrosse quarterfinal: Portland edges Cheverus in fourth OT
Ella Coose scores in sudden-death to help the Bulldogs end a seven-year stretch of quarterfinal losses.After falling at the quarterfinal stage of the playoffs the last seven years, senior Ella Coose said she and the rest of her Portland High teammates were starting to feel “cursed.”
With one hustle play and the swipe of her stick Wednesday night, Coose ended the Bulldogs’ seven-year itch and Cheverus’ two-year run atop Eastern Class A.
Ending more than 60 minutes of manic up-and-down play, Coose reversed the curse midway through the fourth overtime by smoothly slotting a bounce shot past Cheverus goalie Hope Correia to give the third-seeded Bulldogs a 16-15 victory over the sixth-ranked Stags at Deering High.
Portland (8-5) will play Saturday at No. 2 Mt. Ararat (12-1) in a semifinal.
“This is indescribable,” Coose said. “We always lose in the first round of the playoffs. We’ve always wanted to beat Cheverus, we’ve always wanted to go past this first cursed playoff game.
“My team went through so much this whole game and the overtimes. It’s amazing.”
Coose, who missed Portland’s 10-9 regular-season loss to Cheverus (5-8) with strep throat, had looked likely to score moments before her winner when Isabel Stehli’s pass from the midfield hit her in stride alone behind the defense.
But a defender caught up to Coose just as she was about to let her shot go, knocking the ball free. Undeterred, Coose won the battle for the ground ball, slipped by another defender and bounced her shot past Correia from the left of the crease.
“She’s a tenacious player and you saw that with the way she attacked the goal,” Portland Coach Cameron McManus said. “I was freaking out because that defender slammed right into her and I was yelling about not getting a foul. But Coose showed me. She got it back and stuck it in the net.”
For a moment that she’s been waiting her entire high school career for, Coose said she was struggling to remember exactly what happened.
“I thought I was going to get a call, that it was a foul at first,” Coose said. “Then I honestly think I blacked out. I don’t even remember (scoring).”
Portland led 7-6 at halftime and 10-7 midway through the second half before Cheverus scored four goals in 1:07.
Tied 12-12 after regulation, the Bulldogs got goals from Callie Sturgeon and Merrit Ryan (game-high six goals) to lead by two after the first three-minute overtime.
But the Stags rallied in the second OT, tying it with 1:25 left on goals by Anne Veroneau and Abigail Biegal.
Stehli gave Portland the lead back with 44 seconds left, but Allie Scott finished off a pass from Veroneau with 13.3 seconds to play to again tie it and send the game into sudden death.
“We made a few bad decisions and a few mistakes but they never gave up,” Cheverus Coach Jennifer Wescott said. “They fought hard and they fought to the end. If we’re going to go out, it was good to go out like that.”
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Girls’ lacrosse quarterfinal: Scarborough breezes to victory
The Red Storm handle Gorham to set up a showdown with No. 1 Massabesic.SCARBOROUGH — They call it a draw but it’s hardly a 50-50 proposition. Not when Kaitlin Prince is involved.
A senior, Prince is the last remaining link to Scarborough’s 2012 Class A state championship girls’ lacrosse team. After two seasons that ended in regional semifinal losses, Prince is poised to lead the fourth-seeded Red Storm on another title run.
They took a big step Wednesday with a 16-5 Western quarterfinal rout of No. 5 Gorham in large part because Prince kept winning draws to allow Scarborough to control the game.
Abby Corbin scored a career-high seven goals for Scarborough, which opened a 5-0 lead in the first eight minutes. Gorham scored twice in the final two minutes to make it 8-4 at halftime but couldn’t muster a shot for the first nine minutes of the second half as Scarborough made it 11-4.
The Red Storm (9-5) take a five-game winning streak into a rematch with top-ranked Massabesic in a regional semifinal Saturday in Waterboro.
“We’re ready to take whoever it is that comes our way,” said Scarborough first-year coach Michaela Wipfler. “The girls are already pumped up.”
Wipfler attributed Prince’s successful drawing to strength, wrist quickness and repetition of mechanics. Gorham Coach Mary Vaughan-Guimond noted Prince’s height and “those quick-twitch reactionary muscles.”
Prince, who won the first six and 16 of the game’s 23 supposed tossups, credited teammates Bailey Adams and Ellie Smith for boxing out opponents and gathering in loose balls.
“We work a lot in practice on the draws, calling (by numerical signal) where they’re going to,” Prince said. “I mean, I try and call where they’re going to go.”
Adams had a goal and two assists. Prince finished with four goals and five assists. Smith, a freshman playing midfield for the first time in place of an injured junior, contributed a goal and an assist in addition to her work on the edge of the center circle.
“Just before the game, Coach called me into her office and said, ‘What do you think about midfield?’ ” Smith said. “I was really unsure at first because I’ve played attack for my entire life. Defense is definitely not my strong point. But I think this game I … ”
“She crushed it!” interjected Prince.
Reagan Emerson and Marina Pappalardo each scored twice for Gorham (7-6), which lost 13-2 to Scarborough a month ago in their only previous meeting. Allison Sinnett made 13 saves to six for Sammi Shoebottom of Scarborough.
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Girls’ lacrosse quarterfinal: York pulls away from Lake Region
The Wildcats score six straight second-half goals for a 9-4 victory.YORK — Allie Lawlor scored four goals Wednesday to power third-seeded York past sixth-seeded Lake Region 9-4 in a Western Class B girls’ lacrosse quarterfinal.
Lawlor and her teammates got off to a slow start but gained confidence and momentum as the game progressed. She scored three goals in the second half.
“It took a little (time) for me to get into the game but after I scored my first goal (with 4:32 left in the first half), I gained more confidence,” she said. “As the game progressed, I got more comfortable.”
“She has pretty good stick skills so once she got going, we gave her the ball,” said York Coach Jodie Lawlor. “But (we) played a real team game today.”
York (10-3) led 3-2 at halftime. Lake Region (9-4) tied it with 19:58 left in the game, but just under five minutes later Allie Lawlor scored the first of six unanswered goals for the Wildcats.
“The four that (Lake Region) dropped back on us kind of freaked us out,” said Coach Lawlor. “We saw that against Waynflete and that freaked us out so (today) we needed to get some movement going. After we got a couple of goals and got ahead, (we) got more comfortable with what (we) needed to do.”
Lauren Jacobs and Lindsey Keenan each scored two goals for the Lakers.
“We ran out of a little bit of gas in the second half,” said Lake Region Coach David Keenan. “Unfortunately we forgot about our zone. Once (York) had a two-goal lead, they were going to stall. We have a very strong zone, not a strong man-to-man.”
This was Lake Region’s first year as a varsity program.
“We couldn’t ask for more, really,” said Keenan. “It was our goal at the beginning of the year to make the playoffs. It’s a pretty lofty goal. We finished (as the) sixth seed. They’re a very young group of girls but they came together and played a great first half.”
None of Lake Region’s players are graduating.
Production was distributed nicely for York, which had six players score.
Livy Golini made nine saves for York, which will play at No. 1 Kennebunk in the semifinals Saturday.
“(Going forward), we need to play a better first half than we did today. We need to play like we did in the second half. There is definitely room to improve (upon) today’s game,” said Coach Lawlor.
“Lake Region played a great game. They gave us all we can handle so I’m just happy to come up with the win and move on to the next round.”
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Wednesday’s girls’ roundup: Waynflete reaches lacrosse semifinals
The Flyers upend Cape Elizabeth, 6-4.McAuley’s Elizabeth Poulin tries to take control of the ball as Messalonskee defenders close in during the first half of an Eastern Class A quarterfinal game Wednesday at Thomas College in Waterville. Messalonskee won, 14-4.Beata Vest scored three goals Wednesday as Waynflete stopped Cape Elizabeth 6-4 in a Western Class B girls’ lacrosse quarterfinal at Fore River Field.
Christian Rowe, Isabel Canning and Nina Moore scored for the fourth-seeded Flyers (9-4), and Charlotte Majercik made seven saves.
Taylor Herrera, Mariah Deschino, Lindsay Stewart and Hannah Bosworth scored for the fifth-seeded Capers (7-6), who got five saves from Kate Bosworth.
Waynflete will play at No. 1 Falmouth at 3 p.m. Saturday in the regional semifinals.
MARSHWOOD 17, BIDDEFORD 1: Lindsey Poirier had four goals and two assists as the second-seeded Hawks (10-3) handled the seventh-seeded Tigers (7-6) at South Berwick in a Western Class A quarterfinal.
Claudia Folger and Korinne Bohunsky added three goals, Reagan Nichols and Lucy Albers finished with two goals, and Abby Rowe, Mia Donatello and Hannah Costin also scored for the Hawks.
Serena Speight scored for Biddeford.
MASSABESIC 17, SANFORD 1: Top-ranked Massabesic (11-2) overwhelmed eighth-seeded Sanford (6-7) at Waterboro in a Western Class A quarterfinal.
The Mustangs, who led 13-0 at halftime, got four goals from Allison Irish, and two goals and three assists from Hallie Benton.
MESSALONSKEE 14, MCAULEY 4: Ally Turner scored six goals as the top-seeded Eagles (12-1) topped the visiting No. 8 Lions (5-8) in an Eastern Class A quarterfinal.
KENNEBUNK 14, GREELY 8: Jenny Bush and Kyra Schwartzman had four goals and one assist each, and Olivia Sanford added three goals and two assists to lead the second-ranked Rams (12-1) past the seventh-seeded Rangers (4-9) in a Western Class B quarterfinal at Kennebunk.
Maegan Dougherty and Katherine Leggat-Barr led Greely with three goals each. Isabella Kudas finished with eight saves for the Rams.
FREEPORT 16, WINSLOW 7: Julia Dearden scored five goals as the fourth-seeded Falcons (7-6) downed fifth-seeded Winslow (7-6) at Freeport in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal.
Courtney Broderick and Emily Johnson chipped in with three goals each. Goalie Sam Jordan made four stops for the Falcons.
Mackenzie Winslow had three goals for Winslow.
YARMOUTH 20, CAMDEN HILLS 2: Shannon Fallon had three goals and two assists, and Emma Torres also had three goals as the second-seeded Clippers (9-4) downed the seventh-seeded Windjammers (5-8) in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal at Yarmouth.
Molly Wilson, Eliza Lunt and Lane Simsarian had two goals.
Katherine Orne had two goals for the Windjammers.
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