KENTS HILL — The Maranacook/Winthrop girls lacrosse team was hanging in, down one goal late in the first half to Winslow, the only undefeated team in Class C.
Black Raiders coach Shawn Carey, however, had a feeling his team had a counter-punch coming.
“We do that. We’re very much a second-half team,” he said. “In the second half, we usually break loose. We find a way to get ahead of them and stay ahead.”
Winslow’s Leah Polette, right, tries to get around a Hawks defender during a game Tuesday at Kents Hill Kennebec Journal photo by Andy Molloy
It played out that way again Tuesday, as Winslow pulled away for a 15-6 victory over Maranacook/Winthrop in a battle of two of Class C’s stronger teams. The Black Raiders improved to 8-0, while the Hawks fell to 5-2.
Silver Clukey led Winslow with six goals, while Savanah Joler had four and Alaina Lambert had two. Leah Pelotte, Sage Clukey and Taylor Rodriguez also scored while Carrie Selwood made seven saves.
“Our team played really well today. We kind of started out slow, but we came out and finished the game really strong,” Silver Clukey said. “We had to know we’re playing a good team, and really slow it down and take our time.”
Anna Erb had three goals for the Hawks, while Cadence Malcolm had two, Anna Drillen had one and Samantha Cloutier made eight saves.
“For a first-year varsity program, our expectations are high. I wanted to win this game, I honestly did,” Maranacook/Winthrop coach Shawn Drillen said. “I feel like next year, when we play them, we’ll be able to take this experience and learn and be better.”
For a while, it looked like the Hawks had a chance to run with a team that hasn’t lost a game in the regular season in two years. Winslow took a quick 5-1 lead, but a pair of goals by Erb and then one by Malcolm trimmed the gap to 5-4 with 5:02 to go in the half.
The Black Raiders didn’t take long to come up with the answer. Joler had a free position goal with 3:55 left, and Sage Clukey scored 14 seconds later after Winslow won the draw to make it 7-4 by the break.
Winslow kept up the attack in the second half. Joler had a goal on a man advantage with 22:00 left to make it 8-4, and after Malcolm scored again, Silver Clukey scored with 17:58 left to make it 9-5.
Drillen scored her goal with 16:50 to go, trimming the gap to three again, but it was as close as the Hawks got. Joler scored with 14:26 left, Silver Clukey had back-to-back goals with 11:40 and 5:27 remaining, and Lambert, Rodriguez and Silver Clukey rounded out the scoring in the final minutes.
“Once we get that lead, we try to keep it,” Silver Clukey said. “We want it to be a comfortable lead, we don’t want it to be close.”
If it is, however, the Black Raiders have the scoring punch to handle those games too. On Monday, Winslow erased a five-goal deficit to beat Lincoln Academy 13-8.
“We’re deep,” Carey said. “I have enough players that can pick up the scoring load if we have an issue, and we really don’t. … They’re good. They were prepared. We just worked around it.”
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