After getting rained out on Friday, it was a beautiful day for the Eastern Maine Class B girls lacrosse semifinals between the third-seeded Shipbuilders of Morse High School, and the secondseeded Falcons of Freeport.
The first half was exciting as the Shipbuilders got on the board first with a goal by junior Sophie Sreden. The back and forth offensive action produced a 4-4 draw, with both squads taking turns putting the ball into the net. Some of the goals came with great speed, like the one from Morse freshmen Ann Tolan, and others with great difficulty, like Freeport’s Emily Johnson scoring from her knees with 6:32 to go in the half.
Just like when the teams met during the regular season (Freeport won 10-9 in double overtime), the squads appeared to be even as the Falcons carried a 5-4 advantage to the intermission.
However, this all changed after halftime.
“At halftime I told my team to keep the intensity up, we know that keeping the intensity up is to our advantage,” said Freeport coach Karin Kurry.
Offensive streak
Intensity is what the Falcons came out with in the second half. They scored the first six goals of the half and were looking like a whole different team. Goals by Freeport’s Nina Moore, Meredith Broderick and Lily Johnston started the streak as Freeport claimed an 8-4 edge.
“We kept our composer in the second half and just relaxed,” said Broderick. “In the first half we were kind of freaking out because it was our first playoff game as a group, and we knew this could be our last game together, so we cooled down and got it done.
“I have always seen other seniors lead their teams in the past. For me and the other two captains, who have been playing lacrosse together for a really long time, we are thinking, ‘wow this could be our last game and we really need to bring it,’ so that’s what we did.”
Morse ended its season with an impressive 10-3 record and a lots to look forward to in the future. They have a lot of young talent and some playoff experience to go with it.
“We had a great week of prep, great game against Camden, and we felt really good about the game coming in,” said Morse coach Linda Levesque. “We have a lot of young talent, with six freshmen playing most of the game today. It was a good experience for them.
Morse loses seniors Grace Koslosky and Paige Martin.
On to Yarmouth
The win sends Freeport against top-seeded Yarmouth, which downed the Falcons 14-3 on May 5. Freeport will have one day to practice in preparation for the game, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s State Class B title game at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
“The first time we played Yarmouth we were a little jittery, and now we are much more confident. Using the methods we used in this second half, we can come back Wednesday and prove ourselves,” said Broderick.
“We will be working on spreading out on the field and being patient with the ball,” said Kurry. “We are also working on some new offensive plays and marking in the midfield. That’s one thing that Yarmouth does really well and a lot of teams don’t do it.”
The Falcons will also take with them their newest honor, as they are the recipients of the Sportsmanship Award for Eastern B girls lacrosse.
“We constantly talk about sportsmanship being very important, and these girls are really nice and intelligent, so it’s nice for them to get that achievement,” said Kurry.
Morse was well balanced in the game, led by five different goal scorers — Grace Koslosky, Noa Sreden, Isabelle Paulus, Sophie Sreden and Tolan (two goals). Goalie Cat Sener had four saves in the Morse cage, while Molly Lane turned aside eight shots for Freeport, which was led on the scoresheet by Johnston with four goals and one assist, and Broderick with three goals, three assists.
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