Maranacook/Winthrop/Spruce Mountain goalkeeper Will Hays makes a save while knocking Gray-New Gloucester’s Kyle Mercier in the helmet during the Class C semifinal in Gray on Wednesday. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover
Maranacook/Winthrop/Spruce Mountain attacks from all sides.
The Hawks used five different goal scores to defeat Gray-New Gloucester 5-4 in Wednesday’s Class C boys lacrosse semifinal, using five different goal scorers to advance to a state championship matchup with North Yarmouth Academy at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Normally, teams zero in on Garit Laliberte, Maranacook/Winthrop/Spruce Mountain’s three-year varsity starter. Go ahead, but coach Kyle Dennett said the Hawks feature a multi-faceted offense.
“Garit Laliberte has been a three-year varsity starter for us, and he’s the guy that teams focus on when we go into games,” Dennett said. “Unfortunately, with our team, it’s kind of a pick-your-poison type of thing. When they try to take Garit away, the others know that they have a role to step up for our team, and so we can find the ways to win.”
The No. 8 Hawks (11-4) are coming off one-score wins over top-seeded Oak Hill last Saturday and then No. 4 Gray-NG on Wednesday. One reason the Hawks were able to scrape by those teams was the brick wall they have in goal, Will Hays.
Hays made 13 saves Wednesday and only gave up one goal in the second half. The Hawks headed into the third quarter of the semifinal down two goals, but Dennett knew his team was going to be fine.
“We needed to stop worrying about the things we couldn’t control and just play our game,” Dennett said. “I think that’s when the guys realized that we needed to compete and battle that whole game to get back into it and get the opportunity to get into the championship.”
At the beginning of the season, Dennett and his staff asked each player what their goals were for the season and each answer sheet came back with the same sentiment: “State title.”
NYA (10-4) is entered the Class C tournament with the same regular season record as Maranacook/Winthrop/Spruce Mountain, 8-4. Dennett said Gray-New Gloucester was “overlooked” by the Hawks, but NYA won’t be.
“The kids are excited, but we also know that we have a task at hand and we have one more game left in the season, and we want to go out with a bang,” Dennett said. “They have an opportunity to do this, maybe once in a lifetime.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
