BATH — Undefeated Winslow scored six first-half goals and never looked back en route to an 8-2 victory over Morse in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B field hockey game Monday at McMann Field.
Winslow improved to 11-0, while the Shipbuilders fell to 5-4.
Silver Clukey had three goals and an assist, while Bodhi Littlefield had two goals and two assists for the Raiders, who will next take the field on Oct. 8 at Foxcroft Academy. Kim St. Pierre and Addie Jung each scored second-half goals for the Shipbuilders, who will host Gardiner on Thursday at 4 p.m.
Winslow pressured early, but couldn’t push one home. But the Raiders then found a groove.
Littlefield’s blast into the circle was picked up by Karlee Ramsdell for the first goal of the game midway through the opening half. Four minutes later, Clukey scored two goals less than a minute apart for a quick 3-0 lead with 11 minutes remaining.
“Away games are hard because you’re on the bus. Once we got into it, we got into our groove,” Littlefield said.
“I was really happy with the first 15 minutes,” Morse coach Keri Reno added. “We came out super ready which we haven’t been doing in our last couple of challenging games.”
The Raiders added two more scores late in the half, including Clukey’s third goal, in which she again collected a rebound that came off a Littlefield rocket that bounced off Morse keeper Gracie Hawkes.
“We talk a lot about when we get into the circle it’s shot, score or rebound. Just get it in there and go. We work on that a lot as we try to focus on that,” Winslow coach Mary Beth Bourgoin said. “(Littlefield) is a playmaker. She gets those balls in the air with that hard hit. If she doesn’t get it in, the girls have learned to rebound well since it’s a hard rebound.”
Littlefield credited her teammates for being in the right position when she uncorks a shot.
“Our forwards are really good at letting me have that initial shot and then collecting off the rebound because they’re always in great position,” the junior forward said. “I’m proud of them every time they get a stick in there, it’s always a team effort.”
Winslow carried a 6-0 lead into halftime, taking 11 shots on goal to Morse’s zero in the first 30 minutes. The Raiders took both penalty corners in the half. Hawkes made five saves in net for the home team.
“They work really well together,” Bourgoin said of the Winslow defense that had only allowed four goals coming into the contest. “We have mostly experienced players in the back coming into the season and they’ve done the job for us each game.”
Littlefield found the back of the net for a pair of unassisted tallies in the first seven minutes of the half to push the Raiders lead to 8-0.
With under 15 minutes left to play, Morse’s offense came to life, taking its first shot on goal, grabbing its first penalty corner, and finally hitting the back of the cage when St. Pierre scored off a penalty stroke at the 11:41 mark. Less than a minute later, Jung added another after picking up a loose ball that was sent in by St. Pierre and knocked around by Macy Coffin.
“After Kim got the goal, we all got together and realized we weren’t going to win so we wanted to have fun,” Jung said afterwards. “All of our mids are great at feeding it in. Kim always gets it into the circle and Macy is good at getting it on goal, it’s a good combination.”
Winslow outshot the Shipbuilders, 13-7, and held a slight advantage in penalty corners, 3-2. Lainey Bell made five saves for the Raiders after relieving starter Leah Polette midway through the second half.
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