Field Hockey
Gorham 0
Bonny Eagle 1
Bonny Eagle needed a win. Gorham hadn’t lost.
The rivals clashed for over 70 minutes before Lacey Whitehouse scored in the second overtime to give the Scots a 1-0 victory at home Monday.
Laura Bell played a cross from left to right, finding Whitehouse, who drove in the winning goal.
“I just drove it like we do in practice,” said Whitehouse. “Just drove it as hard as I could. I didn’t think I would score but I was just hoping someone would be there.”
The midfielder found a good time to score her first goal of the season.
Prior to the loss Gorham (9-1-1) was ranked No. 1 in the Western Class A Heal Point standings, Bonny Eagle (8-1-2) No. 2. The win puts the Scots in position to take over the No. 1 spot in next week’s standings.
“I think we hit a low as a team last week against Westbrook,” said Bell. “We needed this.”
In its last three games Bonny Eagle had fallen, 3-2, to Westbrook, defeated Biddeford and played to a scoreless tie against Cheverus.
“I don’t know what it is,” said Bonny Eagle coach Patricia Bourget “We come out and play strong against the top teams, the undefeated teams, and then kind of let down against the other teams.”
Bourget made line-up changes in an attempt to spark her team. The moves worked.
“Danielle DiCentes played the majority of the game,” said Bourget. “She doesn’t play much ordinarily. She’s been working really hard in practice so I thought I’d give her a chance. She really played very well. She kept us in the game in a lot of instances.”
Gorham dominated the second half, out-shooting Bonny Eagle 8-0 and holding a 9-0 advantage in penalty corners during the half.
But goalie Megan Ledoux stopped all over Gorham’s 13 shots in the game, earning her eighth shutout of the season.
“There was a lot of communication among the teams – back-and-forth,” said Bell. “There was some bumping of heads and the refs had to take care of that, but once they did there was no stopping us.”
Gorham had two goals from outside the shooting circle waved off – one in the first half and one in the second.
The Rams played the majority of the second half and both overtimes without one of their top scorers, Leigh Maniscalco. The junior, already playing with a heavily-splinted broken finger, left with a shoulder injury.
“It was just a matter of us capitalizing,” said Gorham coach Amber Hatch. “There were times we were beating them to the ball and times we were playing behind them. It was up-and-down.”
Gorham was scheduled to play at home against Deering Wednesday and travel to Kennebunk Friday night. Its final regular season game is against Massabesic Monday at home.
“Hopefully we can look back on this and avoid it in the tournament,” said Hatch. “Now is when we can learn from it.”
The Scots traveled to Marshwood Wednesday and play at home against McCauley on Friday. They close the season at Portland on Monday.
“As a coach you want to see the players perform to their abilities,” Bourget said. “There haven’t been too many games that they have done it as a team. There have been individuals to do it but not as a team.
“Today we played very well as a team. They were all out there to win.”
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