LEWISTON — The Lewiston girls’ lacrosse team found itself down 11-8 near the midway point of the second half against Morse on Tuesday night.
The Blue Devils, with goals from three different players, tied the game at 13 with 55 seconds left and won it in overtime thanks to a Christine Chasse goal to defeat the Shipbuilders 14-13.
“There wasn’t any set, drawn play,” Lewiston coach Brent Remington said. “It was just get the possession and look for a really good shot.”
At the start of overtime, Remington put Chasse on the draw instead of the usual Gabby Wilson in hopes Wilson could win the ball with her height.
Wilson followed the plan and won the ball. She passed it to Grace Dumond, who charged down the field and shot at Morse goalkeeper Zenaide McCarthy. The shot was blocked and deflected behind the net, where Erin Lachance picked it up, and found Chasse in front of net. Chasse scored in the bottom-right corner to give the Blue Devils an important win for their KVAC championship game hopes.
“I told Chasse to go down and win the game and she actually listened,” Remington said.
“Definitely, win the draw and get the first possession because that usually means a shot right after, hopefully, and then, be smart,” Chasse said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I have to catch this,’ I didn’t think I was going to catch it.”
The win helps the Blue Devils’ chances of playing in the KVAC title match, which was their main goal entering play Tuesday.
“We knew we had to win one of the two games we had left, and we felt today we really had a chance to do this,” Remington said. “It was needed. If we didn’t either game then the KVAC championship was probably over.”
Morse gave up two quick goals to start the game to Dumond, who finished with six total. The Shipbuilders answered with two from the stick of Emily Martin, forcing Lewiston to call a timeout.
Right after the break, Morse added two more within 15 seconds of each other, one of which finished the early hat trick for Martin, who finished with a game-high seven goals.
Lewiston found themselves down for much of the game and entered the second half down 6-5.
“If we can stay within a goal or two we are capable of coming back, we are capable of stringing together a few goals in a row,” Remington said. “We had a couple big plays at the end. We didn’t quit.”
Both teams traded goals for the first six scores of the second half in what was a physical and fast half of play. Dumond brought Lewiston within one by running off a screen set by Wilson and driving towards the net and rifling home a goal.
Later in the half, Morse got two goals from Martin, the second scored off a loose ball to make it 10-7 and give the Shipbuilders their largest lead of the game with 13:27 remaining.
Chasse scored to bring the deficit to two with eight minutes left off an assist from Dumond, and the Blue Devils never went away.
“We had to settle it down a lot because we were forcing a lot of passes and not being too smart,” Chasse said. “At the end we were a lot smarter and made some good passes.”
Erin Lachance scored next for Lewiston to make it 11-10 with 7:53 remaining, but Mae Winglass scored for Morse to make it a two-goal advantage just 34 seconds later.
Dumond charged the net and scored with a laser shot to bring the score within one at the 5:29 mark.
The game went back and forth after that goal, with both teams scraping and clawing their way to a possible victory. Lewiston went down a player with six minutes left after too many penalties, which left the Blue Devils at a disadvantage in their comeback attempt.
“They didn’t quit,” Remington said. “I was telling them at the end there that it was really the only time that they had to face any adversity like that. Being down a player for the last five or six minutes of the game so fighting back was big.”
With 55 seconds remaining, Lachance scored off a direct shot following a foul in front of the net by ripping the ball into the bottom-right corner to force overtime.
Lewiston’s Erin Lachance left battles with Morse’s Rosa Atienza for a loose ball during the first half of Tuesday’s lacrosse game in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
Despite being surrounded by Morse defenders, Lewiston’s Katie Lemieux finds a teammate to make a pass during Tuesday’s game at Bates. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
Lewiston’s Katie Lemieux catches a pass in the offensive zone during Tuesday’s game against Morse. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
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