The Gorham girls’ lacrosse team picked up their first win of the season in convincing fashion with a 17-8 victory over Bonny Eagle on THursday, April 26. Kayla Nielsen led the Rams with seven goals and Rochelle Michaud scored four. Rebecca King and Melissa Ruel led Bonny Eagle with three goals apiece.
“I just wasn’t sure what to expect from Bonny Eagle,” said Gorham coach Sarah Dolley. “I know they have some championship banners in their gym, so I was concerned with the unknown. But my girls really proved themselves today. I’m really proud of them.”
The turning point in the game didn’t even happen on the field. Early in the second half, Bonny Eagle scored three straight goals to pull within 10-7. The Scots were finding their groove and they seemed ready to make a run at the Rams. But Dolley called a quick timeout to talk to her team.
“I said we need to make a couple adjustments on defense with communication,” Dolley said. “We weren’t getting back fast enough.”
Gorham responded to the sideline chat with five goals in a six-minute span to put the game out of reach.
“We just played the way Gorham plays lacrosse,” said Nielsen. “It was a tough fight in the beginning then we just turned it on. It was our first game and we wanted to go out with a bang. ‘Shock and awe’ is what we tell each other. We wanted to show them what Gorham can do.”
Bonny Eagle struck the game’s opening blow when Ruel scored 1:15 into the first half. That was the last lead Bonny Eagle would have. Less than a minute later, Gorham tied the game at when Nielsen found the back of the net. The Rams took the lead for the first time when Ashley Martin scored just a couple minutes later. King soon tied the game at 2-2 shortly after Martin’s goal, but the Rams took the lead for good just 21 seconds later on Nielsen’s second goal of the contest.
“We had trouble getting momentum going,” said Bonny Eagle coach Judith Martin. “There were a lot of checks that stopped the momentum. We had a lot of trouble with our passing. Their goalies had some great saves and our goalie struggled.”
The Scots did their best to keep the game close in the first half. Gorham led 5-2 when King scored again. But Gorham put some distance between themselves and the Scots when they scored three straight goals in the final four minutes of the half to make it a five goal game.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming into this game,” said Gorham’s Jacqui Lara. “Our team is so good this year. We started with a lot of new people and we’re a very bonded team. I think we played great.”
Gorham made it a 10-4 game early in the second half before Ruel and Richardson scored the next three goals for the Scots to dut the deficit to 10-7.
“They scored three goals on us and I called timeout and they didn’t score for pretty much the rest of the game,” Dolley said. “That says a lot about my goalie. We held them. I was impressed with that.”
“We had some injuries,” said Coach Martin. “We had some girls sitting out that couldn’t play so we had to use JV players. We’ll get them back and we’re going to come back strong.”
The Scots are now 0-2 after a loss to Marshwood. They were scheduled to face Thornton Academy on Wednesday, May 2.
The Gorham girls dropped to 1-1 with a tough 11-6 loss at the hands of Cape Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon.
The Rams were scheduled to face another very tough opponent in Falmouth on Wednesday, May 2.
Westbrook girls get back-to-back wins
The Westbrook girls’ lacrosse team is off to a roaring start with two straight wins over York and McAuley. The Blazes scorched the Lions 15-3 last Thursday for their second straight win.
Lauren Sawyer tallied five goals and four assists and Alyssa McCarthy and Emily Wight both scored three goals.
The Blazes were scheduled to put their unbeaten season on the line against Sanford on Wednesday, May 2.
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