SACO — It has been eight years in the making but the Biddeford girls lacrosse program has finally earned a win against its biggest rival.
The Tigers would outscore Thornton Academy 8-4 in the second half on Wednesday as they picked up the 13-9 win over the host Golden Trojans — and got the proverbial monkey off their back.
“This is very big. We came in here thinking it was going to be good competition but we didn’t really have our heads up to think that we were going to actually beat them because all the other years we got defeated,” said Biddeford junior Paige Laverriere on beating TA for the first time.
Biddeford coach Caitlin Albert believes part of the Tigers’ problem against Thornton had been a lack of confidence.
“A lot of these girls had never beat TA in a sport,” said Albert. “It really was all mental. I think the fact that they realize that they can do it, now we can set the bar even higher.”
Biddeford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a pair of Laverriere goals, but TA answered with scores from Adeline Paradis and Hannah McAlary to tie it at 2-2 with 14:25 left in the first half.
The Trojans took their first lead of the game on a goal from Alana Pettaway at the 13:37 mark of the opening period, but Laverriere responded with her third goal of the game to tie things up just over four minutes later.
The game continued to go back-and-forth as TA took back the lead when Pettaway scored with 8:31 left in the half and Laverriere added her fourth goal to tie things up at 4-4 with 3:29 remaining in the opening period.
Biddeford took a 5-4 lead with just 1:38 remaining in the half on a score from Hailey Allen, but once again TA responded as Cat Henaire found the back of the cage with 38 seconds left to send the game into halftime tied at 5.
The game may have been tied at halftime, but TA coach Craig Agreste felt the visiting Tigers set the tone in the opening quarter.
“Listen, they outplayed us … in the first half they won every loose ball,” Agreste said.
Just like in the first half, the two teams would trade goals for most of the second period.
Henaire started the scoring in the second half with a goal with 20:39 left.
Biddeford tied things up with 14:55 remaining when Abby Allen scored to make it 6-6, but Henaire would score her second of four second-half goals just over three minutes later to retake the lead.
Serena Speight once again tied things up with a Biddeford goal at the 8:58 mark, and Peyton McKeown would give the Tigers an 8-7 lead just 15 seconds later with a score.
Henaire tried to keep the Trojans in it as she scored another goal with 7:57 left to tie things at 8, but Biddeford would score three straight goals to take control. Grace Boisvert, Allen and Laverriere scored the goals for the Tigers, who led 11-8 with 5:35 left.
Henaire stopped the bleeding with her fifth goal of the game with 4:51 remaining, but that would be the final goal for TA and Biddeford added goals from McKeown and Laverriere in the final three minutes.
“They played harder than us in the first half. Second half we started playing better but it was too late. They had set the tone early on and they deserve the win,” said Agreste.
Laverriere, who finished with six goals, believes the Tigers (5-1) are heading in the right direction.
“I think we’re way better than last year and I think we’re just going to keep going up from here,” Laverriere said.
Albert agrees with the junior standout.
“It’s the best that it’s ever been,” said Albert on where the program is right now. “If we use all of our resources — and we have a bunch of talented players — we can push pretty far in the Class B playoffs if we want to and if we have that strong senior leadership.”
Agreste is hoping the loss to Biddeford will be a wake-up call for the Trojans (2-3).
“Ultimately, it’s a bad loss because we’re not playing well. We’re not playing good lacrosse and we’ve got to look in the mirror and we have to improve,” Agreste said.
NOTES: Biddeford goalie Ella McKenzie stopped 12 shots in the cage … Biddeford will visit Lake Region on Friday … Thornton Academy is scheduled to visit Cape Elizabeth on Saturday.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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