Zach Hough dominated on the attack for Windham at Bonny Eagle on Tuesday evening, May 3. Hough notched six goals en route to a 14-4 Eagles win over the Scots.

“Bonny Eagle plays us hard every single year,” said Windham head coach Pete Small. “They’re a good group of kids and we knew they were going to come out hard. That’s all I’ve heard about them all year: They play hard. And they’re deeper than they have been.”

Windhamite Bryce Rolfe kicked off the scoring, halfway through the first quarter – to that point, it’d been an even matchup, but once the Eagles tallied their first, they took over. Zack Callahan added his first of the night barely 30 seconds later.

The Scots’ Tanner McClure kept things close, notching a quick redirect goal from a low angle with 2:42 remaining in the first. Bonny Eagle seemed to shape up after that, settling in to a long attack stretch that saw them work the Windham defensive perimeter nicely.

The Scots couldn’t capitalize, though, and the Eagles eventually turned the tables. In the span of maybe 15 seconds, Windham broke Bonny Eagle’s offense, shuttled the ball upfield, fired off a first shot – Jason Nielsen did the honors – and secured a rebound goal, the 3-1 goal, Callahan’s second of the night.

Windham controlled in the second. Hough notched both the 4-1 point and the 5-1 point before Tom Lekousi and Tyler Woolston notched the 6-1 and 7-1 points, respectively. Hough scored again to start the third, and teammate Griffin MacVane followed him up with the 9-1 hash.

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Bonny Eagle’s Ben Steeves took a little bit out of the Windham lead two minutes into the third, circling around the top of the of the Eagles’ defense to fire past keeper Jake Dionne, but Hough answered shortly thereafter on a trouble Scots attempt to clear the defensive zone.

Clearing, in fact, proved a sticky spot for Bonny Eagle throughout the evening, though Windham can claim credit for that, as one of their specific aims was to control the midfield. They succeeded, it’s fair to say, and they succeeded so effectively that, at times, they practically drove the midfield into the attack zone. The Eagles midfielders covered the Scots’ midfielders so well that Bonny Eagle keeper Jared Leclerc had few options for passing far upfield. And the Eagles’ attackers tracked Leclerc so well that they often interrupted his short passes – or intercepted them and returned them for goals.

“I keep looking at the things we need to do to continue to improve,” said Small, “and we’ve been caught in a couple games this year where people have pressed us. So what we’ve been trying to do in practice is have our defense press us the way others have.”

“Every game I lay down three goals,” said Small. “Today, No. 2 was to control the midfield. It was a challenge for us, and the guys rose to that occasion.”

Hough added the 10-2 and 11-2 tallies, before Steeves scored again for 11-3. Callahan the Hough made it 13-3 before the third had expired, and Callahan scored again in the early fourth. McClure made it 14-4 with less than four minutes to play, and that was all she wrote.

Bonny Eagle moves to 2-2 on the result.  The Scots opened their season with a big win at Lake Region, 18-5; they then squeezed past Noble 9-8 before falling to mighty Gorham 16-7.  The team hosts Massabesic on Friday, May 6 and travels to Cheverus on Tuesday the 10th. 

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Windham, meanwhile, moves to 4-0 The Eagles kicked off their 2016 on a hot streak, walloping Massabesic 19-4 in their opener, then edging Portland 7-6 and Edward Little 13-12. They welcome Biddeford on Friday and Noble on Tuesday.

“In the five years I’ve been here,” said Small happily, “we’ve never had better chemistry. Even when we’ve been faced with adversity, the chemistry has been so solid. When you throw a challenge at them, they don’t look back at me and say ‘Oh, we’re gonna take the challenge from coach’; they look to each other and say, ‘Let’s go.’”

Bonny Eagle’s Aaron Rae and Windham’s Alec Whalen clash in their teams’ meeting on Tuesday evening.

Bryce Rolfe kicked off the scoring midway through the first quarter.

Bonny Eagle’s Aaron Rae and Windham’s Zach Hough clash in their teams’ matchup on Tuesday evening.

In pursuit of a ground ball, Bonny Eagle’s Zack Brannon boxes out a Windham opponent.

Bonny Eagle’s Tanner McClure had two of his team’s four goals against visiting Windham on Tuesday.

Zack Callahan hashed four of Windham’s 14 goals on Tuesday evening.

Windham’s Jeff Pollard tracks Bonny Eagler Ben Steeves, who tallied half – two goals – of the Scots’ offense Tuesday evening.


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