STANDISH—All through the first half vs. visiting Kennebunk on Saturday morning, Oct. 26, the Lady Scots held the edge: Standouts Emily Byrne and Hailey Koons both added goals in the stretch, securing for Bonny Eagle a 2-0 upper-hand at the break.

The downhill half went entirely the Rams’ way however: Kennebunk piled on three tallies in those 40 minutes, turning a deficit into a triumph – a playoffs triumph.

3-2 the final.

“We controlled the play well, probably could have had one or two additional goals,” BE Head Coach Scott Nason said. “When you don’t put an opponent away when you have the opportunity, it leaves the door open and allows your opponent to believe they’re still in it.”

Byrne struck first in the outing, following a corner roughly nine minutes in. The ball squirted out following the initial kick in, and Scot Kate Silva fired it back toward the Kennebunk goal. Byrne got a foot on it in the midst of the scramble and punched it home, past Rams keeper Claudia Kenneway. 1-0.

21 minutes later – around the 10-minutes-to-go mark – Koons added her contribution. Alone in the middle, she took advantage of a Kennebunk defensive miscue to set things at 2-0.

Early in the second half, Ram Emily Archibald recorded her girls’ first, dashing up the right side of the field and shoveling the 2-1 tally past Bonny Eagle netminder Jocelyn Manson.

Manson jumped out of net to contest the shot, but collided with Archibald: Manson came away worse from the smash-up than Archibald did, injuring her ankle and exiting the game. It was only the beginning of BE’s bad luck on the day. Four minutes later, Randi Lee Robinson hit the turf with a knee injury; she came out of the game as well.

“Jocelyn had only given up eight goals in 14 games this season,” Nason said. “Randi runs our back line and is one of the best defenders in the League. While we might have been able to weather the storm without one of those players, losing both was too much.”

The Scots did log further chances as the game wore on, but Kenneway stood strong for the visitors. Koons (a junior – and a verbal commit to Bryant already) had a solid opportunity with roughly five minutes remaining. Kenneway, however, dashed ahead to thwart her.

Ram Delaney Glode contributed the last two goals of the matchup. Glode’s efforts pushed her girls out front of their hosts.

No. 8 Bonny Eagle exits the tournament, and the autumn, at 9-5-1. No. 9 Kennebunk advanced to 9-5-1, and moved on to the quarterfinals. There, they faced off with top-seed Cheverus, undefeated in 2019 so far. The Stags retained their perfect record vs. the Rams, dispatching them 3-0.

Nason reflected on BE’s autumn: “We never really got consistent momentum, and we lacked that signature win,” he said. “While we had nine wins, we only had results against two teams in the top seven, and that put us in a position of having to play a lower-seeded playoffs opponent than we would have liked.”

“While I felt we were a strong defensive team during the season – we only gave up nine goals in 14 games, and had six shutouts,” Nason continued, “we were not as consistent as we needed to be offensively. We were competitive in every match and had opportunities, we just couldn’t quite get over that proverbial hump … It was a positive season with a great group of players. I look forward to next season with my returning players, and wish the best to the seniors continuing their educational and soccer careers.”

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