FARMINGTON — Perhaps it was the white flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder that gave the Mt. Blue Cougars the juice to roll over Oxford Hills, 10-1, in a season-finale boys’ lacrosse game Wednesday night a Caldwell Field.
The sudden thunderstorm triggered a deluge and sent fans and athletes running for shelter late in the third quarter. The game was delayed for a half-hour before the sun appeared off in the distance and an awesome rainbow appeared over Caldwell Field.
Whether Mother Nature or senior night inspired the Cougars (2-10) remains to be seen, but Mt. Blue certainly dominated the game in the second half and left it all out in the field.
“We’ve been trying to play 48 minutes for this whole season, but we just haven’t really done that,” Mt. Blue coach Kevin Averill said. “I asked the kids at the end of the practice yesterday: ‘Hey, let’s end it on a good note. Let’s play 48 minutes. Let’s go hard … let’s take good shots.’
“The kids came out and played real well. It was awesome to see that happen and send these seniors out on a good note. We ended it on good note and there are a lot positives to take to next year.”
At halftime, the Cougars built a sturdy 4-1 lead. Sam Smith menaced the Vikings, scoring five goals including a hat trick in the first half.
“He had a lot of shots so he should have had a lot of goals,” Averill said with a smile.
Eli Yeaton scored the opening goal and also ended up turning in a hat trick. Dominique Giampietro and Gabe Robinson rounded out the scoring for the Cougars.
Oxford Hills’ lone goal came from Seth Patnaude, with the assist going to Fayd Karim, in the first quarter.
Mt. Blue goalie Brody Looney made five saves to preserve his shutout, and the Cougars outshot the Vikings (0-12), 50 to 12.
“We have a lot of young guys. We are obviously building. We are progressing,” Oxford Hills coach Hunter Rowell said. “It is just a lot greenhorns this year. We just restarted some feeder programs.
“I always like coming up here or having them come to us. Today was evenly matched at the very beginning. I think the lightning sparked them in a way that I wish it would have for us. They were just hungrier, unfortunately. It was a tough-fought game. Mistakes were made they were able to capitalize on them.”
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