BATH

There doesn’t seem to be any better way to start a season than with a “Battle of the Bridge” rivalry match between the Brunswick (1-0) and Mt. Ararat (0-1) high school boys lacrosse teams.

Due to unplayable field conditions at Brunswick, the two met at Morse’s artificial turf at McMann Field.

Despite a quick start by the Dragons and a secondhalf push by the Eagles, the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference victory ended up in the hands of Brunswick, 13-7.

“We had a pretty intense preseason and obviously with the weather we were indoors,” Dragons head coach Don Glover said after the game. “The adjustment to coming outside, beautiful day, was just relaxing and playing. That was the piece that was the utmost goal for us, just to come out and play some lacrosse and relax. We have a good, talented group and they got into a rhythm and played well.”

“We knew that they were going to be strong,” Eagles coach Matt Haskell said about Brunswick. “And the kids, we accomplished our goal. I was very impressed with our face-off wins (14-8 Eagles advantage). We wanted to possess the ball and control the tempo of the game through possession and I thought we did that.”

It was the Dragons that decided the tempo of the game at the beginning. With just 28 seconds off the clock, TJ Sullivan was fed a pass from Matt Brooks almost immediately off the face-off to which Sullivan tossed it in from the right side for the 1-0 advantage.

Throughout the remainder of the opening frame, the Dragons continued pounding the offensive zone, firing a total of 12 shots and scoring twice more, including another one from the stick of Sullivan and one from Cam Glover to take a 3- 0 lead into the second.

After two more goals from the Dragons, the Eagles were finally able to break their way on to the scoreboard when Kellen Radulski fought his way through traffic, dumping a shot past Dragons goalie Mitchell Smith.

Brunswick took command the rest of the way, climbing out to an 9-2 lead. However, with 2:02 remaining in the half, Mt. Ararat’s Elliot Pressman found an open lane and was able to take the ball in himself for the last look, closing out the half and cutting the deficit to six goals.

“Team effort,” Dragons’ Cam Glover simply stated about his team’s win. “It was a whole team effort. Everyone was moving the ball well, trusting each other, just stuff we’ve been working on. It’s been a work in progress and we just had to come out and get a good result in the first game.”

Eagles fight back

Both teams notched one goal each in the third quarter, but Mt. Ararat started to turn the momentum around. After two quick goals in the fourth by Brunswick, Eagles Ben Bishop locked in his third of four total goals on the day, lacing one through a scramble of bodies inside the box to make it 12-5.

Less than two minutes later, Pressman took advantage of the man-up situation, taking a pass from Kyle Lussier and placing it on net. However, Dragons goalie Logan Ouellette, who replaced Smith at the start of the second half, was unable to hold on to it, with the ball tipping off the edge of his stick and across the goal line.

Bishop added one more for the Eagles with a minute left to play, turning and shooting while being checked in the process. The Dragons were able to hold off the Eagles the rest of the way.

“I think we did a lot better than we expected,” Bishop said. “ We were coming into this not playing too great in our last scrimmage and I think today all of the guys were in the zone a little bit. We knew it was Brunswick, we knew it was going to be tough. We had a good time with it and I think we performed the way we should have today.”

Mt. Ararat goalie Charlie Gill stopped 11 shots on the day, with Smith and Ouellette combining for eight stops. Both teams nearly matched shot- forshot, with Brunswick holding a 33-29 edge.

The Dragons will hit host Edward Little on Thursday (6:30 p.m. start), while the Eagles host Cony for their home opener on the same day, with game time slated for 11 a.m.

Brunswick 13,
Mt. Ararat 7

At McMann Field in Bath
Mt.Ararat—0313— 7
Brunswick—3613—13
Goals — (MtA) Ben Bishop 4, Elliot
Pressman 2, Kellen Radulski; (B)
Cam Glover 4, TJ Sullivan 2, Christian
Glover 2, Matt Brooks, Ezra Rogers,
Kyle Woodruff, Ricky Klatt, Ryan
Croatti.
Assists — (MtA) Kyle Lussier 2; (B)
Matt Brooks 2, Cam Glover 2, Owen
Ginty, Jon Snell.
Shots — Mt. Ararat 29; Brunswick
33.
Saves — (MtA) Charlie Gill 11; (B)
Mitchell Smith 4, Logan Ouellette 4.
Face-offs — Mt. Ararat, 14-8.
Records — Brunswick 1-0; Mt.
Ararat 0-1.
Up next for the Dragons — Thursday
at Edward Little, 4 p.m.
Up next for the Eagles — Thursday
at home against Cony, 11 a.m.