STANDISH—Scot Sage Drinkwater gave her girls a fighting chance, scoring in the waning minutes to slice visiting Marshwood’s advantage in half on Friday afternoon, Sept. 6. And Drinkwater & Co. kept up the pressure after that – but the Hawks would survive Bonny Eagle’s furious last-seconds assault and emerge the victors 2-1 in the end.

“I [coached] against Marshwood when I was coaching at Deering, the last couple years,” said Bonny Eagle head coach Amethyst Poirier, asked what she expected out of the Hawks. “So I was familiar with their program. I came into this game expecting to win; I think we definitely could have. Our biggest struggle is not capitalizing on scoring opportunities, and Marshwood did that today.”

The uphill half rolled back-and-forth: Play seesawed from one end of the field to the other, the teams taking turns on the attack. Neither side managed to convert until late, though. Marshwood struck first, Emma Howarth besting Scots keeper Emma Ebert on an assist by Katelyn Drobiseski.

The goal came out of a scramble, so it was difficult to tell if the Scots lapsed defensively or if the ball just ping-ponged through the melee. “Probably a little bit of both,” Poirier said. “Scrambles do usually end up in goals, especially when your defense is low and not protecting the net. We have a habit of watching what’s going on, and not being proactive and ready for the next move, whether that be deflecting a shot or whatever.”

“They scored,” Poirier said. “We were kind of caught watching them fumble with it and the ball went in.”

Bonny Eagle charged out looking fiery to start the second half, and controlled the attack for a long stretch – the better part of seven or eight minutes. It seemed they would score for sure – but they didn’t. Even awarded a couple corner opportunities, they couldn’t find the back of the cage.

“During that eight-minute stretch that we mainly had possession of the ball,” Poirier said, “the girls were working together…The second we split up and started working as individuals, we fell apart.”

Drobiseski and Howarth teamed up again around the 14-minute mark and made it 2-0: Ebert turned a great kick save at the right side to save the tally initially, but Howarth soon scored on the rebound at the opposite side.

“We don’t really have a leader on our defense,” Poirier said. “Somebody who’s going to go into that scramble and consistently come out with the ball. That’s something we really need to work on. Because it’s kind of a free-for-all…and everybody’s kind of waiting to see what everybody else does.”

The Scots never got on the board until barely over 90 seconds remained. They capitalized on a corner – a good sign, given they’ve struggled with corners in the early part of this season. Kailiee Cummings inserted, and Drinkwater converted for 2-1.

“I was,” Poirier said, asked if she was happy with her girls’ execution on the corner. “We’ve been struggling with corners lately. That was the first goal we’ve scored in, I’d say, 16 corners. The initial insert we have is great, and then the person at the top of the circle receiving it fumbles it and is too worried about ‘What should I do? Where should I pass it?’ The next thing we know, it’s popped over their stick or they’re turned around with it and the whole corner just falls apart.”

BE doubled-down after Drinkwater’s notch, levering heavy pressure in a desperate attempt to push the game into OT. Time expired on them – but they earned a corner in the final moments, giving them one more chance to stay alive.

0.0 glared at the Scotts off the scoreboard. They inserted, and followed up hard, but the Hawks’ defenders stood strong and the team claimed a 2-1 triumph.

Despite feeling a measure of disappointment in BE’s dropping a game she believed winnable, Poirier nevertheless expressed happiness with a handful of her girls’ efforts.

“Sage Drinkwater played very well,” Poirier said. “She maintains her composure no matter what, whether they’re being aggressive, they’re all over her stick. She moves the ball well on the field and does a good job of seeing what her options are.”

“Emma Burnham is the other girl who played well,” Poirier continued. “She’s that person in our midfield and forward line who steps up and takes charge and will run into a scramble, come out with the ball and make a good pass or a good decision.”

Bonny Eagle slipped to 0-2 on the loss. The Scots opened their season suffering a 6-1 defeat to Massabesic. The team traveled to Portland on Tuesday, Sept. 10.

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