TOPSHAM

The Morse High School girls lacrosse players and coaches have been waiting for this day for a few weeks now.

The ’Builders played their first regular season game and opened the campaign with an 11-7 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference win over Mt. Ararat on Tuesday evening.

“It was good to get that first win out there tonight as we wanted to come out strong,” said Emily Martin. “It helps with our confidence to start the season this way.”

The sophomore scored four first-half goals and added two assists as five different Shipbuilders found the back of the net in the victory.

“Five different scorers, that tells you a lot about these girls,” said Morse cocoach Jess Avery. “We’re working hard on the fundamentals as we’re trying to do the little things really well.”

Morse came out a little tentative, and the Eagles took advantage early in the first half. Erin Harty got the Eagles on the board first, sticking a shot past Morse goalie Zenaide McCarthy at 18:06. Two-and-a-half minutes later, Jess Cloutier made it 2-0.

“It was important to score early tonight. We were shorthanded with a school trip taking place, so we are using a lot of players on varsity we wouldn’t normally use, we only had one sub tonight,” said Eagles coach Chad Kirk, who’s team lost its season opener to Messalonskee, 17-1, last week.

Over the next two minutes, Morse answered with a pair of goals by Emma Warner sandwiched around Martin’s first tally. Martin scored the next three goals as the visitors jumped out to a 6-2 lead with a little under six minutes left to play in the opening half.

“It’s great that I have trust in my teammates and that we set each other up,” said Martin. “I like knowing already how we’re going to do things and that I am able to help them score as well.”

Mt. Ararat’s Shannon Harty closed out the half with a goal after taking a pass in front of the net from Cloutier before beating McCarthy for the score with a minute left, cutting the deficit to 6-3 after 25 minutes of play.

Morse controlled the draws, taking all 10 in the first half while holding a 13- 7 advantage in shots. McCarthy and Eagles netminder Casi Perow each stopped three shots in net in the opening half.

Second half

After a Mae Winglass goal for Morse, the Eagles got scores from Shannon Harty and Cloutier less than a minute apart to cut the score to 7-5 with 15:08 remaining in the game.

“I liked the way these girls competed,” said Kirk. “I’ve got girls that have never played lacrosse before until two weeks ago. Jack (Eagles jayvee coach Rioux) and I know we’ve got some good athletes here, so I think we’ll compete when we’re all here.”

However, that was as close as the Eagles got. Marija Medenica and Winglass registered goals a minute apart to push the lead back to four, 9-5, with 14 minutes left to play.

Abbie Baker got into the scoring act for Morse before Warner closed out the Shipbuilders’ scoring with a goal off a Maddie McDonough pass with 8:42 left, giving them an 11-5 lead.

“This is the first time they’ve played together as a group,” said Avery. “If you had seen us the last scrimmage we had and have said we were going to come out and play tonight like we did, you would not have believed it.”

Cloutier added her third goal of the game for Mt. Ararat before Zoe McNally found the net one last time for the home team with five seconds remaining for an 11- 7 final.

According to Martin, not only setting the tone with a win in game one, but coming together as a team on the field continues to improve.

“We’re kind of a young team this year as we lost seven starters from last season,” said Martin. “But for us that are returning, we’re picking up where we left off last year with our team chemistry on the field.”

Perow finished with six saves for Mt. Ararat, while Abby Sreden, who replaced McCarthy in net for Morse, recorded four second-half saves.

For the game, Morse outshot the Eagles, 24-15, and held a commanding edge in draw controls, 18-2.

“We had opportunities, we just have to get the ground balls and win our draws, but we got a little tired and you could see it out there,” added Kirk. “They played the whole game and you could see the difference as they (Morse) rotated three players at a time.”

Despite the setback, Kirk looks as the game as a huge stepping stone.

“There’s a lot of bonus here,” said the Eagles coach. “I can take losing by four, because if we’re in games, we’ll take that all year, win or lose.”

Morse 11, Mt. Ararat 7

At Topsham

Goals — (Mo) Emily Martin 4, Emma
Warner 3, Mae Winglass 2, Marija
Medenica, Abbie Baker; (MtA) Jess
Cloutier 3, Shannon Harty 2, Erin
Harty, Zoe McNally.
Assists — (Mo) Emily Martin 2, Maddie McDonough 2, Emily Belanger 2,
Sydney Moore 2, Emma Warner;
(MtA) Jess Cloutier.
Shots — Morse 24, Mt. Ararat 15.
Saves — (M) Zenaide McCarthy 3,
Abby Sreden 4; (MtA) Casi Perow 6.
Draw controls — Morse 18, Mt.
Ararat 2.
Records — Morse 1-0; Mt. Ararat 0-
2.
Up next for the Shipbuilders —
Thursday at home against Oceanside,
4 p.m.
Up next for the Eagles — Saturday at
home against North Yarmouth Academy, 11 a.m.