SCARBOROUGH—On four different occasions Thursday, Scarborough’s girls’ lacrosse team had a great look to complete a dramatic rally and tie the visiting Thornton Academy Golden Trojans at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex.
But that tying tally proved elusive and the Red Storm weren’t able to give new coach Taylor Colangelo a victory in her first outing.
Thanks in large part to three goals from senior Morgan Bolduc, Thornton Academy shot to a 5-1 lead, but Scarborough settled down and when junior Fiona Betters scored with 8.4 seconds remaining, the Red Storm were within two, 6-4, at the half.
Scarborough then pulled within a goal on three different occasions in the second half, but Golden Trojans freshman goalie Sophia Auger stood tall and goals from junior Ayala Littlefield, junior Natalie Hilton, senior Amelia Benoit and Hilton again allowed them to pull away and prevail, 12-7.
Bolduc led all scorers with five goals as Thornton Academy evened its record at 1-1 and handed the Red Storm their first Opening Day loss since 2019.
“It’s a good starting point for us,” Colangelo said. “I’m not mad at the result. The girls fought.”
Close call
After making it to the regional final and regional semifinals in the past two seasons, Scarborough graduated a lot of talent and have a new coach this spring in Colangelo, who previously assisted at Cape Elizabeth.
Thornton Academy, meanwhile, started with an 8-7 home loss to Portland last Friday.
Last year, the Red Storm held off the host Golden Trojans, 10-8.
Thursday, on a breezy but sunny day (47 degrees at the start), Scarborough dug an early hole and despite a valiant comeback, couldn’t quite climb out of it.
Scarborough sophomore Grace Carlista chases Thornton Academy freshman Emma Boissonneault early in the Golden Trojans’ 12-7 victory Thursday. Hoffer photos.
Thornton Academy set the tone 50 seconds in, as after winning the opening draw, Bolduc earned a free position and beat Red Storm sophomore Fiona McDougal to put the Golden Trojans ahead to stay.
Bolduc won the next draw too and with 23:20 to go in the first half, she rolled the crease and finished unassisted to double the lead.
Forty seconds later, after Bolduc won the draw again, freshman Emma Boissonneault scored unassisted to make it 3-0.
Scarborough then got its first possession and had a great look to answer, but sophomore Grace Carlista was robbed on the doorstep by senior Jazzmyn Goff, who started in goal for the visitors.
At the other end, Littlefield scored unassisted after a nice spin move and with 21:36 left in the half, Thornton Academy had a four-goal lead and Colangelo had to call timeout.
The break helped the Red Storm settle down, as after Sahney missed wide and Betters had a free position shot saved by Goff, Sahney set up senior Molly Henderson to break the ice.
The Golden Trojans immediately answered, as Bolduc again left the defense flailing to no avail before finishing to make it 5-1 with 13:28 on the clock.
Forty-eight seconds later, Sahney scored on a free position, then, after Littlefield hit the post, Sahney scored again, finishing after a nice move, and with 10:02 remaining in the half, Scarborough was within two, 5-3.
Calling a timeout changed the game,” Colangelo said. “It took the whole team to take that turn.”
Henderson then had a chance to draw the Red Storm even closer, but Goff made the save.
With 6:49 left, Bolduc scored on a free position to extend the lead, but after Boissonneault hit the post and McDougal saved a free position from Hilton, Sahney set up Betters for a goal with just 8.4 seconds to go and Scarborough had momentum and only trailed by two, 6-4, at halftime.
New Scarborough coach Taylor Colangelo talks to her team during the halftime break.
The Red Storm carried momentum over to the second half and after senior captain Olivia O’Brien won the draw, she scored unassisted with 23:38 to play to cut the deficit to just one.
McDougal then came up huge in goal, twice robbing Bolduc to keep the score 6-5.
Scarborough then had three great chances to tie it, but O’Brien was denied by Auger, who had just entered the game, a Henderson free position was saved by Augur, then Augur saved a free position shot from O’Brien.
“We’re going to need both (goalies),” said Thornton Academy coach Craig Agreste. “One’s a freshman and one’s a senior and they both compete.”
Then, with 14:55 to play, Bolduc snapped a 16 minute, 54 second scoring drought and finished unassisted to put the visitors back on top by two.
Scarborough immediately answered, as Betters scored unassisted 24 seconds later, but on the ensuing draw, Littlefield managed to win a contested ground ball, then raced in and finished to make it 8-6.
After McDougal turned aside a free position from Boissonneault, Carlista converted a free position with 10:11 to play to again pull the Red Storm within one, 8-7.
But Scarborough wouldn’t score again.
With 8:02 to go, senior Grace Durgin was on the brink of completing Scarborough’s comeback, but Augur again made a clutch save.
With 5:51 on the clock, Littlefield finished unassisted for a little breathing room and with 4:36 showing, Hilton converted a free position for a 10-7 advantage.
With 3:30 to play, Benoit scored on a free position to essentially end all doubt and in the final second, Hilton took a pass from Littlefield and scored and Thornton Academy was able to celebrate its 12-7 victory.
“We’re very young and inexperienced overall and it showed in the first game, but I thought we grew today,” Agreste said. “We made some big stops down the stretch and got possession and having Morgan Bolduc doesn’t hurt.”
Bolduc led all scorers with five goals, had a game-high nine ground balls and also won 11 of 20 draws.
“Morgan’s a complete player on both ends of the field,” Agreste said. “We’re happy to have her. She does a lot for us and makes us better.”
Littlefield added three goals (to go with an assist), Hilton had two and Benoit and Boissonneault each tickled the twine once.
Augur and Goff both made four critical saves.
The Golden Trojans enjoyed a 32-26 advantage on ground balls, out-shot the Red Storm, 23-19 (19-15 on cage) and only turned the ball over eight times.
Scarborough’s offense was paced by Betters and Sahney, who each scored twice. Carlista, Henderson and O’Brien all put the ball in the net once.
Sahney had two assists.
McDougal made seven saves.
Carlista had a team-high eight ground balls.
The Red Storm committed 11 turnovers.
“We had some looks on cage to tie it up, but they didn’t go in today,” Colangelo lamented. “That was a full team effort on attack to almost tie it up. We’ll find that we can fine-tune pieces of our game and that will put us in a different position in games like this.”
Improvement
Thornton Academy will look to build on its victory Tuesday of next week when it hosts Marshwood.
“It’s a long season,” said Agreste. “We were very disappointed after the first game. We made a lot of self-inflicted mistakes, but we’ll get more experienced the more we play and the more we practice and this was a positive.”
Scarborough hopes to get in the win column when it hosts Waynflete Saturday morning. The Red Storm take to the road for the first time Tuesday of next week, at Windham.
“I love the girls,” said Colangelo. “They bring the energy all the time. As a new coach, it’s about creating a culture and making sure that they love each other on the field just as much as they do off the field. They support each other. They have good energy. That’s something you can’t teach.
“Tomorrow, we’ll just walk through some stuff and then turn around and play again on Saturday and hopefully get our first win. For me and for them.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
