SOUTH CHINA — An inadvertent shot to the mouth of Cony midfielder Sarah Caron may have done more to stymie Erskine’s second-half comeback than anything else Wednesday afternoon.
The Eagles trailed by seven goals at the half, but drew to within three with just under 11 minutes left to play. Four minutes later, Caron took a stick to the mouth and went down for a couple of minutes, perhaps to count her teeth and gather her thoughts.
“I kind of got a little angry and wanted to get back while still staying under control,” Caron said.
Caron responded with a pair of goals in a 34-second span, the first off a nice pass from behind the net from Cammie Osbourne, to give the Rams a five-goal lead. Erskine’s sister tandem of Jordan and Joanna Linscott each scored to make it close again, but the Eagles ran out of time and the Rams held on for a 15-12 victory.
“This game was huge for us,” Cony coach Gretchen Livingston said.
With the win, Cony (6-4) moved into the 10th and final playoff spot in Class B, with games remaining against Messalonskee and Morse. Erskine (5-4) remains firmly in the Class C tournament picture in sixth place.
The game got away from the Eagles in the first half, as the Rams scored six straight goals to take a 10-3 lead at the break. Junior midfielder Kami Lambert four of her five goals in the opening half on a series of spinning moves that often began in Cony’s end of the field.
“Kami Lambert can do everything,” Livingston said. “Her speed and athleticism can help us in so many ways.”
Sophomore Jordan Linscott was Erskine’s answer to Lambert, scoring four goals on long runs that three times began with draw controls following Cony scores.
“If she has the opportunity she wil take it,” Erskine coach Shara Macdonald said. “She’s good at recognizing when she has the space.”
Caron finished with three goals, while Lauren Coniff scored two. Brooke Metcalf, Abbigail Doiron, Faith Leathers-Pouliot and Osbourne scored once each for the Rams.
“We’ve had so many girls put the ball into the back of the net,” said Caron, one of three seniors on the team. “We’re young but we’re good.”
The Eagles looked like a different team ikn the second half. Junior goalie Ashlyn Wing (16 saves) made four tough saves in the first two minutes and her teammates responded with three goals — Jordan Linscott, Isabella Johnson and Alyssa Savage — to cut the lead to 10-6.
“We talked about stepping it up (at halftime) and playing like we did against Bangor,” Macdonald said.
The teams played contrasting offensive styles with Cony using more ball movement and the Eagles more player movement. Junior Elizabeth Sugg set some effective screens that freed up her teammates for shots.
Cony goalkeeper Sarah Cook-Wheeler played a strong first half with nine saves, robbing Sugg and Joanna Linscott on direct free position shots.
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