After falling behind 4-0, the Eagles played sharp and outscored Massabesic 7-2 the rest of the way. Massabesic coach Brooks Bowen was impressed by Messalonskee’s will to win.
“Hats off to them, they’re a good team, well coached,” said Bowen. “They never quit, they could have quit earlier. They did everything they had to do to win this game.”
Trailing 6-3 with 12 minutes remaining, the Eagles would go on a 3-0 run with goals from Lydia Dexter and Allyssa Turner to force overtime.
Nathalie St. Pierre would score the game-winning goal just 1:37 into overtime to clinch the title.
Bowen felt his team did not take advantage of opportunities to close the game out.
“I thought we were doing well off the draw circle, but you really want to put it away to give yourself some cushion … two goals in this game isn’t a lot and I think we proved that today,” said Bowen. “When we look back on it, there are going to be some things that we wished we did differently, but in the end we did what we did because we felt it was right at the time and it just didn’t work out.”
The Mustangs opened the game fast, getting three goals in the first five minutes. Maquila Dimastrantonio scored twice along with a goal from Josie Ring. Delia Sylvain later scored at the 14:50 mark in the first to give Massabesic the four-point lead.
Messalonskee battled back in the ensuing minutes, getting goals from Lauren Pickett and Turner to cut the lead to just 4-2 heading into half time.
Dimastrantonio scored her third goal less than five minutes into the second half to give the Mustangs a 5-2 lead. Dexter scored for the Eagles just 5:08 later, but Massabesic’s Skylar Renaud fired back to help the Mustangs maintain a threepoint lead with 12 minutes remaining in regulation .
Despite the tough loss, the Mustangs hope to learn from it and continue their strong program heading into next season.
“We graduate five, but we have a pretty young core so I think it is going to last a while with them. I think that this will raise the importance of what you have to do in the offseason as well as the actual season to be successful,” said Bowen.
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