BATH

If there was ever a time for the Morse High School girls lacrosse team to possess a draw control, the first overtime in Wednesday’s Class B North quarterfinal against seventh-seeded Freeport was it.

It was defenseman Mae Winglass that sprinted ahead to grab the ball before it hit the ground, and the Shipbuilders possessed the ball for nearly two minutes before senior Paige Daigle spun a free-position shot off the post and into the Falcons cage for a 10-9 Morse victory.

The win sends the second-seeded Shipbuilders (11-2) to Friday’s tentatively-home scheduled semifinal with No. 3 Oceanside at 5 p.m., while the Falcons saw their season come to an end with a 4-9 mark.

After Freeport owned draw controls throughout regulation (14-5), Winglass was moved to midfield, looking to give her team control in overtime. The move worked, with Winglass sprinting to the Freeport end before making a pass. Morse possessed the ball in the entire overtime period before Daigle was awarded a free-position chance in front of Freeport goaltender Jordan Randall (10 saves). Daigle’s shot solidly struck the post to the right of Randall, but the ball had backspin and managed to bounced across the goal line.

“ It looked like it was going to be wide, but then it bounced right in,” said Daigle after her third goal of the contest with 1: 03 remaining in overtime. “We knew that we had to go out and give our all. We had talked about this game for a while and knew that we could pull it off.”

Of the adjustment of moving Winglass to midfield for overtime … “We knew getting that possession was huge. We moved ( Winglass) up just to get that possession,” Morse co-coach Jess Avery said. “We knew they controlled the draw last game and knew they would do it again. We slowed Freeport down much sooner today.”

“ Possession is everything and it was unfortunate to lose off a free position,” said Freeport coach Marcia Wood.

Solid Falcons start

Early on it appeared that Freeport was going to repeat its 12- 6 win over Morse April 29. Three straight Falcon goals gave Freeport a 3- 1 lead, and Chloe Davidson’s second tally had the Falcons on top 4-2 with 10:30 remaining in the opening half.

From there, Morse held tough in the defensive end, permitting just two more first- half goals for Freeport (Taylor Rinaldi and Catriona Gould), while the Shipbuilders drew to 6- 5 on goals by Daigle (two) and Emily Martin, from Amanda Gagne.

“We didn’t need to force anything, keep doing what we are doing and take our time, think about what we are doing,” said Daigle of her team’s strategy.

Despite continued struggles on draw controls, Morse reeled off three straight goals in the second half for an 8- 6 lead. Emma Warner tied the game, and two goals from Martin finished off the Shipbuilder rally.

“From start to finish, we had some moments, but we dropped the ball, which we don’t normally do, and made some bad passes,” said Wood.

Rinaldi’s game-high fourth goal brought Freeport to 8-7, but Daigle, who led all scorers with six points (two goals, four assists), made it a two-goal game again.

Freeport refused to go away, scoring twice off free-position opportunities in the final two minutes of regulation (Margaret Perrotta, Jessie Driscoll) to tie the game.

“I was proud that we came back, but you can’t dig yourself that big of a hole,” Wood said.

“We made a couple of drops, bad passes. We weren’t going conservative,” said Morse co-coach Linda Levesque.

Morse had one last gasp before the end of regulation, but Martin’s free-position shot bounced wide as the buzzer sounded.

Morse had an early chance to win the game in overtime, with Martin was stopped by Randall. But, there was little the netminder could do on Daigle’s shot that sends the Shipbuilders to Friday’s semifinal.

“We played our game. We knew that we had a chance to win, knowing this might be a one-goal game and it was,” said Avery. “Freeport has beaten us in the big games, and they have lots of guts and good players, so to have our girls come out on top is big.”

“We grew up as a team … our nine first-year varsity players gained experience throughout the season and we have all worked to build trust and confidence in each other,” added Levesque.

“They out-played us, hustled to the ball, and they wanted it more,” said Wood.

Morse held a 25-24 edge in shots, with Shipbuilder goaltenders Zenaide McCarthy (five saves, first half) and Abby Sreden (six saves, second half and overtime) combining on 11 saves. Martin scored a hat trick, while Noa Sreden scored the game’s first goal for the ’Builders, who defeated Oceanside twice this season, 8-4 in the regular season and 8-1 in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship this past Saturday.

Gould and Driscoll each had one goal and a helper for Freeport, with Davidson scoring twice.

No. 2 Morse 10, No. 7 Freeport 9, OT

Class B North Girls Lacrosse Quarterfinal At McMann Field Complex in Bath

	Freeport		—6	3	0	—	9
Morse		—	5	4	1	—	10

Goals — (F) Taylor Rinaldi 4, Catriona Gould, Chloe Davidson 2, Jessie Driscoll, Margaret Perrotta; (Mo) Noa Sreden, Amanda Gagne 2, Paige Daigle 3, Emily Martin 3, Emma Warner. Assists — (F) Jessie Driscoll, Taylor Dostie, Catriona Gould; (Mo) Amanda Gagne 4. Shots — Morse 25; Freeport 24. Saves — (F) Jordan Randall 10; (Mo) Zenaida McCarthy 5, Abby Sreden 6. Draw controls — Freeport 14; Morse 6. Records — Morse 11-2; Freeport 4- 9. Up next for the Shipbuilders — Friday at home vs. Oceanside in Class B North semifinal, 5 p.m. (tentative). Note — Freeport’s season is completed.