AUGUSTA — The Cony girls lacrosse team built a four-goal lead at the half and then held off resilient Gardiner/Hall-Dale late to pull out a 10-8 victory in a Class B quarterfinal at Fuller Field on Saturday.
Andrea Richardson and Dinah Wadleigh each scored three goals while Maci Freeman had a pair of key late tallies. Goalie Madison Chavarie turned away nine shots for the third-seeded Rams (11-2), who advance to the semifinals, where it will play either No. 2 Greely or No. 10 Mt. Blue on Wednesday.
Emma Bourget scored four goals and Averi Baker added two to pace Gardiner/Hall-Dale, which finished 11-3.
“We knew they would come to play and we knew who they had for threats,” Cony coach Gretchen Livingston said. “They won the second half 5-3 as we didn’t take care of the ball as well as we should have. We made some adjustments defensively after that and we did enough damage in the first half to hold them off.”
Indeed, the Rams took a 7-3 lead into halftime and then appeared well on their way to an easy victory when it went ahead 8-3 early in the second half on a Wadleigh goal. But Gardiner/Hall-Dale fought back. Bourget and Lilly Diversi scored 35 seconds apart to cut the lead to 8-5.
Bourget dominated the draw circle all game, winning nine, including one that led to a power-play goal by Baker with 10 minutes left to cut the lead to 8-7.
“She had an absolute day today,” Gardiner/Hall-Dale head coach Jess Prince said. “You can tell she’s a senior captain the way she handles herself out there. She absolutely dominated the draw circle today and scored when we needed it.”
“That’s the team this season,” added Bourget. “We’ve really been working to improve ourselves and each other. That’s been a team-wide goal and for that to work it’s something we all wanted because this is something this program has really never had before.”
However, that would be as close as the Tigers would get, as a pair of key Freeman goals sealed the victory for Cony.
Cony’s Ashley Tobias, left, tries to get past Gardiner’s Lia Umland in a Class B girls lacrosse quarterfinal game Saturday in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
“Our team is so versatile,” said Richardson. “Everyone is always looking to pass. It’s always not a one-person game. It’s been so fun this year with a lot of fight. It’s fun being out here playing.”
The Rams got off to a quick start as Emma Doiron found the back of the net just 42-seconds into the game for an early lead. Minutes later, a pre-cursor to how the game would play, Gardiner/Hall-Dale had answer when Bourget beat Chavarie for the equalizer.
The teams traded goals before Wadleigh and Richardson each scored for Cony to build a 4-2 lead. Richardson’s tally came off a loose ball in front of the net.
“Keeping your eye on the ball and knowing where the ball is at all times really helps,” Richardson said.
The senior scored the next two Cony goals, sandwiched around another Bourget score, to increase the Cony lead to 6-3 with five minutes left.
“We had a goal of shutting them down offensively,” said Freeman. “At the beginning of the game we were chaotic on offense but once we were able to spread it out and slow it down, we gained control.”
Cony goalie Madison Chavarie is hugged by teammates after the Rams defeated Gardiner in a Class B girls lacrosse quarterfinal game Saturday in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
After loose-ball pick up from Freeman deep in Gardiner/Hall-Dale territory with 25 seconds remaining in the half, the sophomore raced down the field and found Abby Morrell, in front of the net who scored with five seconds remaining in the half.
“I really honestly just wanted them (Gardiner/Hall-Dale) not to have an opportunity,” said Gretchen Livingston. “But she pushes to the last second every time and I mean literally. She had a goal with one-hundredth of a second before the half earlier in the season. But hey, that’s beautiful, it’s a great way to head into the halftime.”
Skye Cotnoir had four saves for Gardiner/Hall-Dale.
“This is a really special group and they have a lot of heart,” said Prince. “They have done things this season in this program that haven’t been done before. Usually I’m very like ‘what could we improve on’ but this game was nothing but ‘do not leave this field without feeling anything but pride for yourself because you never gave up and worked hard to stay in it emotionally and physically’ and at the end of the day they gave it their all, it just didn’t go our way.”
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