BRUNSWICK — After scoring 24 goals in the last two games, including a 15-goal output in Wednesday’s win against Morse, the Brunswick girls’ lacrosse team was looking for more of that offensive prowess against Mt. Ararat on Friday.
However, the Eagles were coming off a one-goal victory over Boothbay on Thursday and were carrying a little late-season momentum themselves as something had to give between the two Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference schools.
Mt. Ararat limited the Dragons to two goals throughout most of the first half. But a surge late in the frame built a 6-0 Brunswick lead at the half and the Dragons came away with a 9-2 victory.
“We have been a second-half team, so we’ve talked about coming out with a little more intensity, so we don’t have to turn it before it’s too late,” Brunswick coach Brittany Vogt said in regards to gaining momentum in the first half.
“I’ve been preaching to them about clearing (their minds). Like — why are we here? What are we doing? — When we do that, we don’t force it and make things happen,” Mt. Ararat coach Chad Kirk said. “We didn’t do that in the first half; however, the second half was better.”
Brunswick improved to 4-6 and currently sits eighth in the Class B Heal Points. Lila Solberg led all scorers with three goals for the Dragons. The senior also had two assists. Mackenzie Dorr, Emily Cloutier and Rian Sachs each registered two scores, while Amanda Cloutier chipped in with a helper in the victory.
The Eagles fell to 4-7 and host Edward Little on Tuesday at Hyde (5 p.m.).
Brunswick scored a little over two minutes into the game when Solberg beat Mt. Ararat goalie Amanda Pickens for the score. Dorr followed with a quick goal minutes later for the 2-0 lead.
The Eagles, wearing the home whites as the game was a scheduled home game for Mt. Ararat, nearly scored when Hannah Huston fired a free-position shot, but Brunswick keeper Mikaela Aschbrenner turned the sophomore’s try away for the save at the 16-minute mark.
Mt. Ararat kept the Dragons off the board until Sachs found the back of the net off a Solberg helper at 9:17. Four minutes later, Solberg had an unassisted tally to push the lead to 4-0. Sachs and Dorr each scored in the final minutes for the six-goal lead after 25 minutes of play as Brunswick outshot the Eagles, 8-2.
“What I teach the girls is to find the white (of the net). See the goalie and see the white, trying to hit the top or bottom corners,” Vogt said.
Although the Dragons scored a season-high 15 goals (on 32 shots) on Wednesday, Thursday’s practice was more of what they have been focusing on all year.
“In practice, we really focused and did about 45 minutes of stick work,” the Brunswick coach said. “We also spent some time walking through our attack and finding those cuts and feeding those cutters.”
“We practice it a lot, making those cuts in the middle, looking for the open man, not necessarily having it all on one person’s shoulders,” added Solberg.
Mt. Ararat opened the second-half with its first goal of the contest less than a minute in when Maddi Kinney scored off a Maddie Daulerio pass to cut the deficit to five.
The score remained the same until with a little under 16 minutes remaining, Brunswick’s Emily Cloutier scored her first goal of the game to extend the lead back to six as it was evident that the Dragons were thriving on their teamwork and had regained the momentum.
“Especially this year, (team chemistry) is something we’ve been working on a lot,” Solberg said. “Getting new people the ball, passing it around and trying to get new people scoring and I think we’ve done a good job with that this year.”
Solberg and Emily Cloutier each scored another goal before Huston rounded out the scoring, bouncing a shot off Aschbrenner late in the contest.
“Mt. Ararat always brings a lot of intensity and it’s always such a good game. This year we played our game and went out there and did what we had to do and played our best,” Solberg said afterwards.
Mt. Ararat’s Zoe McNally agreed about the rivalry.
“It’s definitely an emotional game when we play Brunswick,” the senior captain said. “We kind of feel the psychology of that before it starts. We know we need to clear our heads and focus on that and separate ourselves from that and be a team.
“Our win last night was huge, and we came into this game hopeful. It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to, but we have a game on Tuesday and hope to rally then.”
Kirk also looked ahead at Tuesday’s regular season finale against the Red Eddies.
“When we start to win on a regular basis, we need to keep that momentum,” the Eagles coach said. “Until then, we need to keep working on the things that make us better. I like having our young players and what we’ve got growing here and the way they’re coming around. We’ll be back at it Tuesday and the postseason.”
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