BATH – For the first time in days, Morse and Freeport boys high school lacrosse teams were able to play in dry conditions with moments of sunlight piercing through clouds in the sky with relatively warm temperatures. 

The Falcons made the most of their chances, setting the tone early with aggressive play and solid defense, for an 18-10 victory over the Shipbuilders at McMann Field on Saturday. 

Freeport improved to 3-2 and will next face Wells at home on Thursday at 6 p.m. Morse fell to 2-3 and hosts Brunswick on Monday at 5 p.m. 

The Falcons put the first goal on the board just 29 seconds into the game when Ben Gormley found Dan Casale and the freshman’s shot beat Morse goalie Jacob Mowery for the score. 

Morse held the edge in faceoffs in the opening frame (5-2) and held possession of the ball for a good part of the quarter looking for open shots. But the Freeport defense and keeper Jacob Jordan turned the Shipbuilders away, including seven first-quarter saves by the freshman goalie. 

“Our goalie picked up a goalie stick just over a week ago,” Freeport coach Geoff Arris said. “He did well with what they threw at us, they have some scorers. He’s literally had a goalie stick in his hand for a week and a day and he did a real good job against them.” 

While Jordan was turning away shots, the Falcons offense was creating havoc of their own. Gormley scored the first of his three goals at the 10:40 mark, while Kaleb Barrett, Steel Crawford and Barrett’s second pushed the Freeport lead to 5-0 late in the quarter. Ethan Pascuzzo put the Shipbuilders on the board with 51 ticks on the clock and home team trailed 5-1 after 12 minutes. 

“We tried to do too much at times,” Morse coach Jay Paulus said. “(We) try to take it one-on-one and try to do isos (isolation plays) and that’s not the way we operate, not the way practice.” 

Each team had eight shots on goal, and Morse was active on loose balls and causing several Freeport miscues, but the tone was set by Falcon’s crisp offensive play. 

“We’ve been really focusing on that,” Arris said of setting the tone early on. “We come out and give it everything we have every time we step foot on the field. 

“They (Morse) did a really good job with ground balls and carrying it up the field. Once we started contesting it more, getting it going in our direction, we got our looks and things started going our way. Our one-on-one game was on par today.” 

After another Gormley goal, Morse’s Wyatt Hudson tallied a pair of goals less than three minutes apart and Sheamus Mann pulled the home team within two (6-4) with his first goal of the afternoon off a Gaige Kindlimann helper. 

But Freeport’s Sam Larochelle’s two goals to Mann’s one to close out the half gave the visitors an 8-5 lead. 

Once again, each team took an equal amount of shots, both totaling 13 apiece after two quarters, while Morse doubled up the Falcons in faceoffs, 10-5. 

At stick’s length

Freeport notched three goals in the first two minutes of the second half to extend its lead to six (11-5) after receiving two goals from Crawford, wrapped around another Larochelle score. 

“Jump on them hard and score,” Larochelle said about how the Falcons wanted to come out. “We try to spread the scoring around, get multiple players involved.” 

Morse’s Corey Lamare set up another Mann score, but the Falcons kept the Shipbuilders at stick’s length behind Jordan’s five stops in net, and despite two more Hudson goals, Freeport took a 14-8 lead into the final quarter. 

“Jacob did a good job with quite a few good saves, they have guys who can shoot,” Larochelle said of his goalie’s performance. 

The Falcons found the back of the net for two more goals to open the fourth, taking a 16-8 lead with a little under eight minutes remaining.  

Mann and Pascuzzo netted goals less than a minute apart with five minutes remaining to spark some late life into the Shipbuilders. But time and the lack of opportunities due to the Falcons defense were against their side. 

“We have an offense that can move the ball, and when we did, we found some success, but it just peters out. Once they get a taste of a goal, they all want to do it,” Paulus said. “It’s frustrating because we have a lot of scorers, we’re just not putting it in. The other night we had nine assists and that’s the type of play we want and we didn’t get that today.” 

Savary, one of Morse’s top scorers, was held pointless by the Falcons defense. 

“I wasn’t able to do anything today, they were marking me up and double teaming me, they’re pretty good at that,” said the sophomore. 

Freeport finished the scoring with another Casale score and Gormley’s third goal of the day for the 18-10 final. 

“We have players moving up and playing different positions with kids being out,” Arris said. “I’m really happy with how we played today.” 

Crawford finished with five goals and an assist while Casale and Larochelle each registered four goals. Larochelle added an assist. 

For Morse, who had two shots on goal in the final quarter, never really got anything going offensively according to Paulus. 

“They’re not showing what they’re capable of doing,” the Morse coach said. “Freeport was a good team, so wasn’t Oxford Hills and the other teams we’ve faced, but that’s it, every team we’re going to play is going to be pretty decent. And until we can put it all together, we can’t remotely compete with some of those teams. But these are good athletes, good kids, we’ll get back to work and figure it out.” 

Savary also points to the slow start for the ‘Builders. 

“We needed to come out stronger, not leave it until the end. We’ve done it in the past, so we know we can do it so hopefully something will just click,” Savary added. 

Mann and Hudson led Morse with four goals apiece. Angus Brown had two assists, while Pascuzzo added one to go with his two goals.  

Mowery stopped 10 shots for the Shipbuilders, while Jordan turned away 13 in the win. Morse won 22 of 32 faceoffs. 

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