BATH — Both the Mt. Ararat and Morse high school field hockey teams were looking to get back into the win column after recent losses on Monday afternoon.

Winners of their first five games, the Eagles were shut out the last two games, falling to 6-5, while after winning four of its first five games, Morse had dropped three straight entering Tuesday’s clash.

The Eagles received a first-half goal by Holly Temple, and Brynn Charron and Brea Holtet added a pair in the second half as Mt. Ararat came away with a 3-0 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference victory over the Shipbuilders.

Although three goals separated the two teams on the scoreboard, the game was an evenly-played contest.

“We were slow to warm up,” Mt. Ararat coach Krista Chase said of playing on the McMann Field turf. “This surface is different than what we’ve been playing on and I expected us to make the adjustments sooner.”

The Shipbuilders took the early shots on goal, but the Eagle defense of Gabie Head, Kelsea Dwelley and Annie Wilkins lightened the burden of goalie Emma Lapreziosa.

“I rely on my defense, they’re amazing,” Lapreziosa said. “I communicate with them and it’s all about making adjustments to the team we’re playing.”

Seven minutes into the game, Mt. Ararat’s Wyley Fitzpatrick sprinted up the field and crossed the ball in front for an Eagles’ scoring opportunity, but it was Morse’s turn to show off its defense of Sydney Moore, Abby Durgin and Molly Cashman as the ’Builders were all there to thwart the attempt.

Following a Mt. Ararat timeout, the Eagles broke their scoring drought as Temple blasted a shot past Morse keeper Rebecca Click at 5:28 to give the visitors the lead.

“I told them that they needed to start playing field hockey,” Chase said.

“We talked about intensity and that we needed to turn it on and play like we normally do. We weren’t hustling as much to the ball. Once we regrouped we got it turned,” Temple added. “This was our first game on turf since the preseason, so we were trying to adjust to the field. We’ve talked about drives and how they weren’t working, so I made a last ditch effort to flick it and it went in.”

The score remained 1-0 into the halftime break, despite the Shipbuilders outshooting Mt. Ararat, 4-2, in the first 30 minutes.

Second half

Just a few minutes into the second half, Morse’s Vanessa St. Pierre tried to even the score, but her drive to the cage was

disrupted by Dwelley and Wilkins and was unable to get a shot off. A couple of minutes later, Morse’s Paige Willis attempted to make a run to the left side of the cage, but was forced away by Head for a change of possession.

“We have a hard time sometimes organizing ourselves on defense, especially in fast games where it’s back-and-forth and back-and-forth,” Chase said. “In the end, our defense came up big.”

Meanwhile, Mt. Ararat was gaining momentum on the offensive side. While only getting two shots on goal in the first half, the Eagles doubled that output in the second frame. At 14:26, Temple found Charron in front of the cage and the sophomore knocked it home for the two-goal lead.

Minutes later, the Eagles tallied an insurance goal, using their speed down the field. Fitzpatrick once again sprinted down the left side with the ball before passing it to the center, where Holtet was hustling. She slipped one past Click for the score.

“That was really pretty because Brea was working her tail off to get up there and get to Wyley,” Chase said. “That was fun to watch. Sometimes people think of Wyley as a goal scorer, as a finisher. While she does do that, I don’t think people understand how much she carries the ball up the field and really sparks our attack.”

Morse did not go away, continuing to pressure the Eagles defense and Lapreziosa. St. Pierre nearly put the ’Builders on the board, taking a pair of shots right in front of Lapreziosa, only to have the junior netminder deny both attempts.

“I try to make sure everyone is covered and keep myself balanced and make the saves that I can,” the keeper said.

“They know us well so we tried to get a little creativity going on to see how we could change things up to be successful,” Morse coach Kerri Reno said. “But Krista’s a great coach and can make adjustments, as they picked up what we wanted to do and had some great saves on us.”

The Eagles completed the shutout, with Lapreziosa finishing with six saves for the game. Click turned away three shots for Morse.

“Morse came out ready to play. They were fast, they were speedy and they never gave up,” Chase said.

“It was a really even match, we played up to our potential,” Reno said. “We did well to keep our momentum after they scored those goals, as we sometimes tend to beat ourselves once we fall behind, but today we played well to the end.”

The 5-7 Shipbuilders host Waterville on Thursday at 4 p.m., while the Eagles will play Oxford Hills at Bowdoin College, also on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.

 

 

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.