They say it’s difficult to beat a team three times in one season.
Nobody told the Morse High School girls lacrosse team.
The third meeting was a completely different story. Morse locked down on defense from the get-go and scored goals in bunches en route to a dominant 15- 2 win.
“ We came to play and win,” Morse co-coach Linda Levesque said. “We knew that we had to play hard from the get-go — from the start to the finish. We knew we had to do that and we did.”
The first 10 minutes of the game appeared to mimic the first two matchups, with the No. 8 seeded Mariners (6-7) pressing hard and controlling the ball. The No. 1 seeded Shipbuilders (12-1) spent a good chunk of the first half defending their own net, but when they did have the ball, they made the most of it.
Senior captain Isabelle Paulus broke the opening deadlock with a goal at the 15:50 mark that eased the Oceanside pressure and opened things up on the other end of the field. Noa Sreden ( 12: 41) and Paige Daigle (12:18) followed with goals just a few minutes later. By the time Oceanside scored its first goal of the game just before halftime, the score was 6-0.
“In practice we’ve been working on taking our time and noticing where the defense is,” Paulus said. “Looking for that low spot on offense to dish it to. I think we’re a team that shoots and moves the ball really fast on offense. We know that when we get to the bigger games defense is going to be harder, so we know patience is what’s going to get us the goals.”
Paulus scored again just 32 seconds into the second half, and Maddy Olsen added another less than three minutes later. The Shipbuilders, who outshot Oceanside 27-7, held an out of reach 9-1 lead just seven minutes into the second frame.
Like it has all season, it was the defense that anchored Morse’s win. Multiple times in the first half, the Shipbuilders absorbed long, drawn-out spells of possession from Oceanside and came away without even facing a shot on Zenaide McCarthy’s goal. Twice, the hosts drew offensive fouls and stopped a Mariner cold, and when they didn’t, they grabbed a groundball and sparked a favorable counter attack going the other way.
“ That’s our game and that’s been our strength all year,” Levesque said. “The way our defense has gelled and can shut another team down. They get the ball out quickly and we get it down and it definitely buoys up the offense. You’ve got to feel good about it when you shut down the other team.”
“Our defense is going to win all of our games,” Paulus said. “ Our goalie ( McCarthy) and our defense is going to win every single game that we have. We’re aggressive, we look to pick off passes, and this game definitely proved what we’ve been working on all season.”
McCarthy stood strong in net (five saves), halting a pair of one- on- one Oceanside chances and saving a free-position shot in the second half. Of just three shots in the second half, Oceanside scored its second goal after a Morse foul.
Morse will move on to host No. 4 Gardiner on Saturday at McMann Field, a team its already faced and defeated three times this season, including in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship last Saturday. Paulus said she and her teammates remember the previous meetings, but will be focused on their own game plan.
“We’re more focused on ourselves because we know, from those games, what we messed up on. I think our mindset is getting as far as we can this year and hopefully states,” said Paulus. “Yes, we have to focus on what we’ve done wrong with other teams that we’re playing, but we’re focused on ourselves, playing strong defense and getting further this year.”
No. 1 Morse 15, No. 8 Oceanside 2
Class B North Quarterfinl At Morse High School
Oceanside — 1 1 — 2
Morse — 6 9 — 15
Goals — (O) Abbey Lacasse, Danielle Ladd; (Mo) Isabelle Paulus 3, Noa Sreden 2, Paige Daigle 4, Madison Savary, Isabella Monbouquette 3, Maddy Olsen 2. Assists — (O) Aubrey Anderson; (Mo) Isabelle Paulus 2, Tayler Gagnon 2, Amanda Gagne 2, Isabella Monbouquette. Draw controls — Morse 15, Oceanside 4 Records — Morse 12-1, Oceanside 7-7. Up next for the Shipbuilders — Class B North quarterfinal Saturday at home against Gardiner, time TBA.
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