Down 10-3 in the first half and showing no signs of slowing the top-seeded Shipbuilders down on Saturday, Freeport first-year coach Marcia Wood got on her shell-shocked team about not playing defense.
The Falcons rebounded from the slow start, scored six straight goals in the first half to get back into the game and finally claimed a lead when Lily Johnston scored her fourth goal with 7:40 remaining. Less than one minute later, Taylor Rinaldi’s second tally completed a 6-1 scoring run for the fourth-seeded Falcons, who had to hold on as neversay die Morse closed to within one and had a chance to draw even before Freeport closed things out with possession.
Ball possession was certainly the key for Freeport. Led by Lizzy Martin’s prowess in draw controls, Freeport had a large edge in possession and ground balls, leading to the comeback from a 10-3 first-half deficit.
“You could tell that when we got the ball off the draw control that we were able to go right onto offense,” said Martin after winning 22 of 35 draw controls, scoring three goals and picking up four ground balls. “Mostly whoever got the ball right off the draw seemed to score.”
“For some reason, Lizzy just gets it in draw controls,” said Wood. “We have two others who are good at it, but Lizzy does the job.”
“The whole game came down to ball possession, we had it, they had it, we had it, they had it, but they had it more,” said Morse coach Linda Levesque after her Shipbuilders finished 8-5.
For the Falcons to be back in the game was surprising after the superb start Morse had. The Shipbuilders scored the game’s first three goals in the opening 3:01, two from the crosse of Maddy Olsen. An Amanda Gagne bounce shot 4:24 into the game gave Morse a 6-2 lead, and a pair of goals while Freeport served a pair of two-minute penalties pushed the lead to 10-3 just past the halfway point of the first half.
I have no clue!” said Wood about her team’s start after downing Morse 15-9 during the regular season. “We were having a hard time keeping the transition focused and moving with it, and they did a great job swarming the ball. Mentally you still have the last meeting in the back of your head. Kudos to Morse. They were pressuring and they played their hearts out. I’m not sure if there was five minutes left in this game that we’d be standing here.”
“We just weren’t ready for them, and I know that we beat them earlier and I don’t know how that played into it,” said Martin. “At least we came back and were able to hold them off.”
“We got every ball on the ground early, and just went for it,” said Morse defender Anita Doughty.
The comeback began on a Courtney Broderick goal, her first tally of the game. Broderick added another and picked up two assists on a pair of goals from teammate Chloe Davidson to complete a big 6-0 spurt to get the Falcons to 10-9 with 4:19 left until halftime.
Morse answered the Freeport run with a halfclosing two-goal burst, with Olsen and Gagne picking up a goal each, and when Gagne’s fifth goal slipped behind Freeport goaltender Sam Jordan (four saves) 22 seconds into the second half, the Morse lead was back up to four, 13-9.
Making a change
Wood made a tactical move.
“We moved Emily (Johnson) back on defense and Taylor Rinaldi up to the front, and she is just a real spit-fire,” said Wood.
A goal each from Martin and Lily Johnston brought the Falcons to within two, 13-11, before Sophie Sreden scored her second to give Morse a 14-11 lead with 20:35 remaining.
The Shipbuilders went cold from there, going more than nine minutes without a score. Meanwhile, Freeport found another gear, as Davidson, Broderick and Martin each scored their third goals of the contest to tie the game, 14-14.
Paige Daigle put the Shipbuilders ahead, 15-14, with 11:11 left, but there was no stopping the Falcons, who answered with the tying goal from Jasmine Olins two minutes later.
Freeport’s first lead came with 7:40 left when Johnston slipped a free-position shot past Morse keeper Cat Sener, who did her best throughout by making 11 saves. Rinaldi’s second made it a 17-15 contest, but Gagne’s sixth off a Morse free-position chance cut the Shipbuilders’ deficit to 17-16 with 4:20 left.
“It was big to get the lead, and we were able to finally get over that hump after trying really hard for a while,” said Martin, who won a big draw control, allowing Freeport to run nearly two minutes off the clock.
A steal by Morse defenseman Kaylee Walker gave her team a chance to tie, but Davidson came away from a scrum with a ground ball as the Falcons ran off the remaining 1:48 of the clock to secure the win and a visit to second-seeded Yarmouth on Wednesday for the Eastern B Regional final at 6:15 p.m. Yarmouth downed Oceanside, 21-1, on Saturday.
Levesque was proud of her team despite the loss.
“We are pleased and proud of where we have come from and where we are going to. We left it all out there,” said Levesque. “We got better every day, and that was our goal. But, this is a heartbreaking loss.”
Broderick paced Freeport with three goals and four assists, with Johnston adding four goals, Martin and Davidson three each, and Rinaldi two goals, including the gamewinning tally. Johnson and Rinaldi shared ground-ball honors with seven each.
Sophie Sreden had two goals and two assists for Morse, while Noa Sreden picked up a goal, an assist and four ground balls. “Rossetti led the Shipbuilders with five ground balls.
No. 4 Freeport 17,
No. 1 Morse 16
Eastern B Semifinal
Saturday, at McMann Field in Bath
Freeport — 9 8 — 17
Morse — 12 4 — 16
Goals — (F) Lily Johnston 4, Lizzy
Martin 3, Emily Johnson, Courtney
Broderick 3, Taylor Rinaldi 2, Chloe
Davidson 3, Jasmine Olins; (Mo)
Maddy Olsen 3, Sophie Sreden 2,
Noa Sreden, Amanda Gagne 6, Emma
Rossetti, Bronwyn Morissette, Paige
Daigle 2.
Assists — (F) Julia Dearden 2, Courtney Broderick 4; (Mo) Sophie Sreden
2, Noa Sreden, Amanda Gagne, Emilie Platteter, Maddy Olsen 2.
Shots — Freeport 33, Morse 23.
Saves — (F) Sam Jordan 4; (Mo) Cat
Sener 11.
Draw controls — Freeport 22, Morse
13,
Records — Freeport 8-6, Morse 8-5.
Up next for the Falcons — Wednesday in Eastern B Regional Final
against No. 2 Yarmouth, 6:15 p.m.
Note — Morse’s season is completed.
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