PORTLAND — Portland scored on its first four shots of the game and kept its distance from Mt. Ararat as the Bulldogs never trailed en route to a 13-4 victory in boys high school lacrosse action at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Friday.
Portland improved to 4-0 on the year, while the Eagles fell to 3-3.
“They’re a good squad, patient with their passing and kept us from getting anything going on offense,” Mt. Ararat coach Matt Haskell said.
Portland’s Grant Jacobson paced the Bulldogs with six goals and an assist in the victory, while Miki Silva had four assists and knocked in a pair of scores.
Mt. Ararat’s Hayden Libby and Nolan Blessington each tallied two goals for the Eagles.
Portland wasted no time finding the back of the net. Less than a minute into the contest, Jacobson carried the ball down the field, and after a move to get open, fired a shot from 10–yards out, beating Eagles goalie Daniel Jackson for the score.
After Mt. Ararat won the following faceoff, the Eagles held possession for several minutes, passing the ball around while looking for an open shot. The Portland defense had other ideas, denying any shots, and at the 6:55 mark the Bulldogs found the back of the net again when Nico Leavitt took a Silva pass and put Portland ahead by two.
Mt. Ararat answered when Libby drove the net and scored on the Eagles’ first shot of the game to pull within a goal, 2-1.
However, Portland scored on its next two opportunities — Jacobson’s second, and a goal from Evan Bay — to round out the scoring after 12 minutes of play.
Once again the visitors cut the deficit in half, as Blessington brought the Eagles within two goals with an unassisted tally five minutes into the second quarter.
The Bulldogs matched the score a minute later before netting the final two of the half to extend their lead to 7-2. Bay tallied his second of the game, sandwiched around a pair of Sam Gerber goals. Portland took 13 first-half shots, receiving goals from three different scorers.
“The way we operate offensively, our goal is to go to our open guy,” Portland coach Mike DiFusco said. “We don’t have a lot of numbers, so we’ve got to be patient and find the right looks. We can’t play the up and down game. We’ll pay for it if we do. We got the good looks today. We want to keep everyone active and not just lean on one or two guys.”
Jackson made six saves in net for Mt. Ararat, while offensively, the Eagles managed just two shots in the half.
Second half
The two teams traded goals to open the half, and the Bulldogs went ahead 10-3 midway through the third quarter before Blessington’s second goal of the game made it 10-4.
The Portland defense continued to put a hold on any type of offense the Eagles attempted to run. Portland had allowed just 10 goals over its first three games, so goals have been hard to come by so far this season against the Bulldogs.
“We wanted to be strong the whole game, give it everything we had,” Libby said. “They were just pushing out a lot more on us than we’ve been used to the last few games. It’s been tough this year without practicing a lot outside yet.”
After three quarters of action, Portland led 11-4, and two more goals from Jacobson in the fourth quarter sealed the 13-4 victory.
“We set the tone when we can, and we did today,” DiFusco said. “We didn’t get enough goals early enough, but we kept the ball, had good possessions and kept our guys going.”
Portland outshot Mt. Ararat, 25-6, keeping the Eagles.
“We went to a two-man game to set picks, and I think we could have done that a little better, but we have good kids, they button up their shirts, do well in school and want to learn the game,” Haskell said.
Jackson stopped 12 shots in goal for Mt. Ararat, while Portland keeper Johnny Sylvain had one save in the win. Mt. Ararat held a slight advantage in faceoffs, 11-10.
Mt. Ararat next plays on Friday against North Yarmouth Academy at McMann Field in Bath at 6:30 p.m.
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