LISBON

Boothbay exploded for five second-half goals en route to a 6-0 victory over Lisbon in high school field hockey Mountain Valley Conference action on Wednesday.

Senior Sydney Meader netted four goals for the Seahawks in the victory. Meader has verbally committed to play field hockey for the University of Maine at Orono next fall.

Boothbay attacked early, pushing the Lisbon defense back on its heels to open the half, putting a few shots on net but with no goals to show for it. Lisbon called a timeout at the 20:49 mark, where Lisbon coach Julie Petrie coached her athletes to stop double teaming within 25-yards of the net, leaving the center open.

Out of the timeout, 46 seconds later, Meader took a pass from Sydney Mercier and fired it past Lisbon goalie Mikaylia Harnden for a 1-0 Seahawks lead.

Trailing by a goal, Lisbon’s offense sensed some urgency and created opportunities deep in its zone, led by Savannah Czechalski and Sydney Plourde. Plourde shot just wide with nine minutes left after carrying the ball downfield through the Boothbay defense.

Plourde once again had a chance to score when her shot on net was stopped by Boothbay netminder Emily Amaral with under seven minutes remaining in the half.

Boothbay nearly tallied another goal before the half when Chloe Arsenault shot point- blank at Harnden, but the senior goalie turned her away, one of her eight first-half saves, keeping the score 1-0 at the half.

“Mikaylia played great for us today. She had to turn away a few shots for us, I’m proud of her,” said Petrie.

The second half opened with a lot of volleying back and forth, both sides not generating anything on offense. As the half developed, Lisbon’s defense began to collapse, with players not getting back to the circle. As a result, Meader nailed home her second goal of the contest a little over 11 minutes into the half, putting Boothbay up, 2-0.

“ She’s a good player, she’ll do well at the next level,” said Boothbay coach Donna Jordan.

Three minutes later, the senior found the back of the cage with her third score of the game and giving the visitors a 3-0 lead.

“ Once you get down a goal or two, you start to get down and that started happening with our players,” said Petrie. “ We’re still young and some of these girls have got to learn.

Both coaches commented on how each side of the field plays.

“I really think the difference (in the second half) was the field conditions. Because in the circle we faced in the first half, the grass is very long and limits what you can do offensively. The second half, this side is shorter and that changes the game you play and we welcomed the shorter,” said Boothbay coach Donna Jordan.

“ Our field’s not great right now, not to make any excuses but the ball moves great down at this end (north end). We didn’t take advantage of that in the first half where we could have scored a couple of goals and built some momentum, but that didn’t happen,” said Petrie.

After a Lisbon yellow card, leaving the Greyhounds a player short for five minutes, Boothbay pushed across a pair of goals. Arsenault scored first with eight minutes remaining and Mercier followed a minute-and-a-half later for its fifth goal.

“This is the first night this season that we’ve been aggressive. We’ve been working, working, and working on it so I was glad to that here tonight,” said Jordan.

“ They crossed the ball well, they have speed, they carry it well and were able to put shots on goal,” said Petrie.

Meader scored the final goal with a blistering shot untouched from 10-yards out.

“My players have never seen a player of that caliber before. She’s a great player. She’s got sick skills. She’s a quick player and has a great shot. I told my players constantly to defend her, but I think it took them to actually see how good she was to say ‘hey, I need to mark her up,’” added Petrie. “That was in our gameplan.”

The Seahawks outshot the ’Hounds 22-6 and took the edge in corners, 13-3. Harnden finished with 16 saves while Amaral turned away six for Boothbay.

Boothbay improved to 4-1, while Lisbon fell to 1-4.

Boothbay 6, Lisbon 0

At Lisbon

	Boothbay	— 1	5	—	6
Lisbon	—	0	0	—	0

Goals — (B) Sydney Meader 4, Chloe Arsenault, Sydney Mercier. Assist — (B) Sydney Mercier. Shots on goal — Boothbay 22, Lisbon 6. Saves — (B) Emily Amaral 6, (L) Mikaylia Harnden 16. Corners — Boothbay 13, Lisbon 3. Records — Boothbay 4-1, Lisbon 1- 4. Up next for Greyhounds — Friday at Hall-Dale, 4 p.m.

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