BATH

Scoring goals wins games. Preventing them does as well.

The Mt. Ararat High School boys lacrosse team played to its strength, using solid defense and ball control to come away with a 9-3 victory in a Class B preliminary game played at the McMann Field Complex.

Seventh-seeded Mt. Ararat will travel to Brunswick on Saturday to take on the No. 2 Dragons (9-3) in a quarterfinal match at 1 p.m. The Rams ended their season at 4-9.

The Eagles set the tempo early, gaining possession in their own territory, moving the ball down field, and punching in the game’s first goal 31 seconds into the contest. Ryan Mello found Connor Brown, with Brown’s shot beating Cony goalie Cam Gallant for the score.

Following a Mt. Ararat tally, the 10th-seeded Rams cut the deficit to a goal with a Nic Mills score with 5:09 left in the quarter. But Eli Schoenberg answered a couple minutes later, finding the back of the net off another Brown assist, carrying the Eagles to a 3-1 lead after 12 minutes of play.

Schoenberg added a pair of goals to open the second frame, including a score where the freshman picked up a loose ball in front and pushed it across the goal line and into an open net for the score.

Cony’s Nick Robinson registered the next goal for the visitors, scoring an unassisted tally with 7:29 left in the first half, but another quick pair by the Eagles pushed the lead to 7-2 with less than five minutes to play.

“The tempo of the game played to our advantage,” Mt. Ararat coach Matt Haskell said. “We had the slides and did a good job in transition. Neither team scored in transition, a lot of 6-on-6 scoring.”

Robinson and Mt. Ararat’s Jacob Sargent traded goals to close out the half, with the Eagles leading 8-3. Mt. Ararat outshot the Rams 22- 7, also taking the slim advantage in faceoffs, 7-6.

Second-half defense

Both teams came out of the halftime intermission looking to clamp down on defense.

“Our defense had to do something in the second half. We had to slow them down as they were scoring quickly,” Cony coach Chad Foye said. “When you do that, you need to transition well, and we didn’t do that.”

As a result, the Eagle defense, more notably goalie Daniel Jackson, raised their game another notch, keeping the Rams from hitting the back of the net in the third.

“I like the 6-on-6 because I can see where everyone is,” Jackson said. “Our defense did really well today, we play well together and communicate a lot.”

Jackson turned away four shots in the third quarter, including a shot from Robinson from in front of the net late in the quarter. The sophomore goalie finished the contest with eight saves.

Despite being outshot 7-6 in the third quarter, Mt. Ararat managed the only goal of the frame with a Matt Lawrence goal from another Brown helper, putting the Eagles ahead 9-3 heading to the final quarter.

Much like the third quarter, the fourth displayed tough defense from both squads.

“They’re good defensively,” Foye said. “Their defensive players kept up with our guys, so we really couldn’t beat anyone on a dodge. We tried to run plays, but we missed passes.

“It’s how it goes, it was a little bit of a combination of them being good and us not making the plays.”

While Jackson continued making saves in the final 12 minutes, his counterpart was making his share of saves at the other end of the field. Gallant recorded five saves in the quarter, finishing with 16.

“He’s put a lot of time into lacrosse, I’m really proud of him, he did a great job today,” Foye said of his senior goalie.

“We played really hard today,” Gallant said. “Our defense kept us in the game, playing well in front, making my job easier.”

Mt. Ararat outshot the Rams, 34-20, while each team won eight faceoffs.

“This does a lot for our confidence,” Jackson added, heading into Brunswick, a team the Eagles lost (16-3) late in the season.

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