Girls Soccer: Westbrook starts strong, but Bonny Eagle claims victory

Madison Boothby controls for the Scots. Adam Birt / Lakes Region Weekly

STANDISH—Bonny Eagler Emily Byrne heaped up a hat trick vs. visiting Westbrook on Wednesday night, Oct. 16, as the Scots proceeded to douse the Blazes 6-0.

Westbrook head coach Laura Locke applauded her girls even in defeat. “They played a great game,” Locke said. “They have these moments of brilliance – they’ve just got to string them together. They’ve been progressing the whole season and I’m really looking forward to next year – I have almost my entire team coming back, plus some girls coming up. We’re really hopeful.”

Bonny Eagle had coach Scott Nason praised a handful of his girls, beginning with Byrne. “Emily had three goals, and Leah Lafrance had two,” Nason said. “That was a nice night for Leah. Leah’s got a tremendous shot; we’ve had a hard time freeing her up a little bit to get it off as much as we’d like. Hailey Koons was picking out players pretty well out of the midfield and trying to play them, get them opportunities. It was pretty well-rounded.”

Westbrook did an admirable job in the early minutes, tying up a stronger squad in the midfield to keep them away from the attack. Eventually, though, BE wended their way into the Blazes’ zone and began to test netminder Carolyn DiBiase. DiBiase performed well, but as the Scots’ pressure mounted, she was bound to start relinquishing tallies.

Byrne scored first for BE, shortly before Lafrance made it 2-0. Lafrance shouldered her Westbrook defender out of the way to earn a one-on-one with DiBiase, beating her with a low-roller to the left side. The Scots had found a groove.

“We’ve struggled a little bit this year, coming out in the first 10 minutes like we need to,” Nason said. “[And] it was a little bit different starting lineup than we usually have, with it being senior night. Some people playing in different position and playing with some different partners than what they’re used to. But they settled in, and once they did, things moved along pretty well.”

“We’ve changed up our goalie situation,” Locke said. “We put Carolyn Dibiase in the net for the Falmouth game last week and she almost had a shutout. Just a very athletic girl. Good anywhere in the field. She played the first half tonight. The girls have a lot of confidence when she’s back there; she stops a lot of goals. Loves to play on the field, though.”

“So,” Locke continued, “when they started to control the ball a little bit more, at halftime we made a goalie switch – because Carolyn’s good on the field too, and hopefully she could score.”

Lafrance logged her second of the night just about 20 minutes in, notching at the left Westbrook post. From there, BE continued to pressure, but the Blazes’ defense stood stalwart. Locke evaluated her back line positively on the whole:

“The defense is awesome,” she said. “The defense comes to play every day. We have a very strong defensive line. And I’m lucky that I have some midfielders who can also go back and play defense when the girls get tired.”

“The midfield, when we are healthy and ready to play, they do great,” Locke continued, “like you saw at the beginning of the game. And we have two subs; that makes it a little more difficult when they get tired and worn down.”

Byrne hashed her second of the night just over a minute into the latter half, and her third just over two minutes in. Both came against the Blazes’ replacement for DiBiase in net, Evelyn Keaton.

Keaton gave up one more on the night – to Monique Alexander, with 15:24 to go – but otherwise she and her defenders stood up laudably to the Scots’ persistent offense. Meghan Horner deserves props for a nice stop: The ball had trickled behind Keaton and Horner leapt between it and another BE tally. Later, Keaton recorded a beautiful diving save to deflect a Bonny Eagle attempt just wide of the left post.

“Carolyn has been playing awesome in the goal and on the field,” Locke said, asked who played well. “Like I said, she was a gamechanger during the Falmouth game. Morgan Cooledge, she always plays awesome; she’s great on defense and in the midfield. I’m lucky that I can place her anywhere. Brianna Lopez was doing awesome, coming back and trying to win balls and bring them up the field. Trying to place them so we can have some breakaways, challenging balls on offense. She’s a freshman.”

“Amelia Reed and Olivia Copetta are just my most improved: All season, every single game, it’s like, ‘Wow,’” Locke continued. “They just improve every day; it’s amazing to watch. They played great today in the midfield, trying to keep the ball away from the defense and give them a break.”

The W bumped No. 7 Bonny Eagle to 8-3-1 on the fall. The Lady Scots suffered a 1-0 loss two days later to fifth-ranked Windham (8-3-2); they closed their regular schedule at South Portland (12th, 3-10) on Tuesday the 22nd.

Westbrook, meanwhile, slipped to 0-13. The Lady Blazes got one last chance to hop in the win column on Tuesday the 22nd, though they faced an uphill battle, as their last opponent of 2019 was the Eagles.