FREEPORT

The undefeated Morse High School girls lacrosse team was in an unfamiliar spot on Monday in Freeport —the Shipbuilders were losing at the halftime break.

Not only that, but they were losing by three goals to a Freeport team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. The perfect season was on the line, and Morse needed goals quickly in the second frame.

The goals came.

Trailing by three with just under 19 minutes left to play, the visitors reeled off three straight scores to tie the game and force an unlikely sudden death. Once there, it took less than two minutes for Madison Savary and the Shipbuilders to find the back of the net and complete the comeback, 7-6.

“Playing hard and playing Shipbuilder lacrosse,” Morse coach Linda Levesque said of the key to the turnaround. “Playing the way we can play. We didn’t feel good about that in the first half, but they (Freeport) also played really well in the first half.”

Freeport (3-4) countered Morse’s (7-0) first goal of the second half with a score of its own to bring the lead to 6- 3, but the Shipbuilders had more coming. Maddy Olsen, who scored the first goal of the second half, added another goal at the 18:39 mark before completing her hat trick and tying the score at six with eight minutes left to play. Sandwiched in between was an in-traffic goal from Amanda Gagne, and just like that, the halftime deficit was erased.

“I think the key to the comeback was having everyone play defense on the field,” Olsen said. “We were playing strong in the first couple minutes, but then Freeport came back and we got down on ourselves. In the second half, that turned around and we started getting the ball more often.”

“We needed to play hard,” Levesque said. “We talked about guts at halftime and matching their intensity and I think we did. That was the difference.”

It was a cruel ending to the game for Freeport, with Morse winning just its fourth draw-control of the afternoon before heading down the field for the game’s final possession. After a save from Falcons goalie Samantha

Jordan, the Shipbuilders retained possession and eventually drew a foul. With a clean sight at goal, Savary ran up after the whistle and fired in the game-winner just 1:16 into sudden death.

“Everyone can shoot on our team, which is really nice,” Olsen said. “We don’t have to depend on anyone.”

“That’s a new rule this year, the sudden death,” Freeport coach Marcia Wood said. “It’s kind of a crap-shoot — whoever gets the luck of the draw. There’s only so much you can do.”

Controlling the ball

The first half belonged to Freeport, which used a 6-2 draw-control edge to spark long spells of possession that eventually led to goals. After conceding an early goal to Morse’s Isabelle Paulus, the Falcons got things going with a Courtney Broderick score. Taylor Dostie scored next to make the score 3-2, and then back-to-back goals from midfielder Taylor Rinaldi tightened the grip. All but two of Freeport’s first-half shots found the back of the net.

“They transitioned through the midfield really well,” Levesque said of the Falcons’ offensive surge. “They really got us spread out. Defensively, taking the ball behind the net and being patient with it. Moving us around and finding the open player — they did a great job of that.”

“We just tried to balance it out and get big and move the ball around,” Wood said. “Trying to catch a defender sleeping and just look for the holes.”

The draw-control battle ended 11-4 in favor of the hosts — a battle that Wood said is the key to any game.

“Chloe (Davidson) has been doing well, and if Chloe doesn’t get it, Lily (Johnston) and Taylor (Rinaldi) have been doing great up on the draw circle. It’s the key to the games,” Wood said of the draw control. “We want to control the games, so you’ve got to control the draw in order to control the game.”

The two teams each fired 10 shots in the second half, with Morse narrowly taking the game total, 29-28. Jordan made nine saves in net for Freeport and watched a shot from Morse’s Paige Daigle careen off the post in the final minute of regulation. Johnston led the Falcons with six of her team’s 33 groundballs, while Broderick notched three goals and a pair of helpers.

Levesque said Monday’s game was three things that her team can be proud of — an out-of conference win, a come-from-behind win and a first-time win over Freeport.

“Freeport has been our biggest rival for the past couple years,” Olsen said. “They’ve beaten us, and it gives everyone a lot more confidence after this one.”

For Wood, whose Falcons host Kennebunk today at 4 p.m. there was one simple, yet crucial takeaway from the loss.

“We can’t turn the ball over,” she said. “ Turnovers lose us games.”

Morse plays host to Mt. Ararat on Friday at 7 p.m.

Morse 7, Freeport 6
Morse— 241—7
Freeport— 510—6
Goals — (Mo) Isabelle Paulus,
Amanda Gagne 2, Maddy Olsen 3,
Madison Savary; (F) Courtney Broderick 3, Taylor Dostie, Taylor Rinaldi
2.
Assists — (Mo) Noa Sreden, Isabelle
Paulus, Maddy Olsen; (F) Allison
Greuel, Taylor Dostie, Courtney Broderick. Shots — Morse 29, Freeport 28
Saves — (Mo) Zenaide McCarthy 5;
(F) Samantha Jordan 9.
Draw-controls — Freeport 11, Morse
4.
Records — Morse 7-0, Freeport 3-4.
Up next for the Shipbuilders — Friday at home against Mt. Ararat, 7
p.m.
Up next for the Falcons — Today at
home against Kennebunk, 4 p.m.