LEWISTON — The defense did it all for Lewiston High School on Wednesday.
They scored the first two Blue Devil goals, limited Falmouth to 11 shots (one in the first period) and pitched their 11th shutout of the season in a 4-0 victory over the Yachtsmen at the Colisee.
“We had seen Falmouth earlier in the year in a practice game and we knew they could skate with us,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “And they did. We knew it was going to be up and down and it was very defensive.”
With assistant captain Corinne Laberge out of the lineup due to what Dumont called a “lower-body injury,” the defense picked up the scoring slack. Laberge is third on the team in both goals (10) and points (19).
Due to Laberge being out of the lineup, Jaylin Cloutier was moved from her usual spot on the blue line to the forward position. She responded by scoring Lewiston’s first goal to break a scoreless stalemate 1:23 into the second period. Cloutier collected a loose puck off the stick of Jordan Mynahan and beat Falmouth goaltender Ally Hurdman five-hole.
“She’s a freshman and switched from defense to forward no complaints,” Dumont said. “I told her last night, ‘You’re going to play forward, just work hard’ and she goes out and gets the first goal. I think that was very nice.”
Erin Hubbard scored Lewiston’s next two goals. Her first came from the slot and her second from just inside the blue line.
“It was hard with three defenseman, but we made some good passes to get it out of the zone,” Hubbard said. “We were looking for more centering passes.”
Mikaela Brown assisted on both of Hubbard’s goals. Brown found Hubbard with a centering pass from behind the net on the first goal and the defensive captain beat Hurdman stick side. Brown hit Hubbard at the blue line and she delivered a shot through traffic that found the back of the net as Lewiston (14-0) grabbed a 3-0 lead with 9:03 left in the third period.
“We thought once we got two if we could get a third it could take the steam out of them just because it was hard generating goals for both sides,” Dumont said.
Lewiston’s leading scorer, Lauren DeBlois, scored her 16th goal of the season with 7:52 remaining on the power play. Just 16 seconds with the extra skater, DeBlois lifted a shot from the right circle over Hurdman’s far-side shoulder.
The Blue Devils held a 23-11 edge in shots. The Yachtsmen (8-4) recorded just five shots combined in the first two periods before registering six in the third.
“That’s one of the things that’s been an issue for us,” Falmouth coach Rob Carrier said. “We’re not aggressive with the puck, shooting it. A lot of the girls want to lass the puck in good opportunities. The key to the game is to get shots on goal and we just didn’t get as we needed.”
Lewiston goaltenders Paige Fontaine and Meagan Gosselin split time in net. Fontaine played the first two periods and recorded five saves. Gosselin played the third and registered six saves.
Hurdman finished with 19 stops.
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