Wednesday’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A North girls’ lacrosse clash between Lewiston and Brunswick was a goalkeeper duel.
With the score just 1-1 at halftime, it was on one of the offenses to find a way to get some shots past the other goalie in order for a team to come out on top.
Lewiston’s attack answered that call, scoring three goals in a 2- minute, 20-second stretch to break a tie and beat Brunswick, 5-2, at Don Roux Field.
“I tried to fire them up a little at halftime, which I don’t normally do with them,” Lewiston coach Brant Remington said. “They came out and they were a lot smarter. I felt like we could have been a little smarter offensively the first half, so we turned that around. We made better passes, better shot selection, because their goalie’s really good.”
Mikaela Aschbrenner made 14 saves for the Dragons (3-4), including a handful of free-position shots in the first half. But the Blue Devils (5-3) made it tough on Aschbrenner in the second half.
“Mikaela’s one of the best goalies in the league,” Brunswick coach Dave Boucher said. “When players get in tight, the goalie doesn’t have much of a chance, and that’s what they were doing. They were getting shots from inside the (8- meter arc). Not much she can do there. She can guess, but their players made nice shots. I think that’s what the difference was.”
Neither team generated much offense in the opening minutes, then they traded unsuccessful free-position shots five minutes in.
Brunswick broke onto the scoreboard first, getting a free-position goal from Colleen McKearney 8:45 in, but the Blue Devils answered 11 seconds later on a goal by Shaima Naji.
That score stood until two minutes into the second half, when Anna Davis scored a man-up goal for the Dragons.
The Brunswick advantage lasted a little longer the second time around, though only marginally. Sasha Leclair scored a free-position goal 67 seconds later to tie the game.
“They got a quick transition goal each time, a nice goal, and we really couldn’t the momentum our way to get comfortable and settle plays like we normally do,” Boucher said.
“A game that’s 1-1 at halftime, I mean a two-goal lead is like a eight- or 10-goal lead today,” Remington said. “So it was important that we had to make sure that we couldn’t get more than a goal or two down, or it was going to be tough. And then the flip to that is we wanted to make sure we could get up by two or three, because then it was just going to be a huge advantage for us.”
Remington got his wish midway through the half. Morgan Eliasen scored just before the 12-minute mark to put the Blue Devils ahead, then Rachel Ouellette scored 55 seconds later. Dacia Ball found the back of the net 85 seconds after that to make it 5-2.
All that was left for Lewiston to secure the victory were key saves by goalie CeCe Racine, who finished with nine of them on 11 shots, and for the Blue Devils to keep possession, which they did for nearly three minutes at the end.
“Our goalie was phenomenal today, and stopped many of their free positions,” Remington said.
“She made at least four of the key saves on those shots from the eight,” Boucher said. “The shooter tries to put it in a spot, and we try to tell them where, and the goalie was stopping it high and low on us. She didn’t seem to have a weakness.
“Both goalies played great. And we couldn’t seem to take advantage of our opportunities today.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
