PARIS — There was a strong hint of how Friday’s girls lacrosse game was going to turn out after Oxford Hills scored four goals in the first five minutes of play.
The Vikings (4-1) dominated and never let up before gliding off with a 15-0 victory over the Mt. Blue Cougars (2-3), who are fielding a varsity girls lacrosse team for the first time this season.
“I think that Mt. Blue gave a good effort against us and never let up, even though they were down,” Oxford Hills junior midfielder Katie Hallee said. “Even when we got up by a lot goals, we were still trying to challenge ourselves by running our plays and trying new positions.”
The driving forces behind Oxford Hills’ offense were midfielder Olivia Orlando and attacker Ella Kellogg, both seniors, who each scored three goals.
By halftime, the Vikings were on solid footing with a 9-0 lead.
“I think they had an awesome game, working through their transitions and working the ball up the field,” Oxford Hills coach Jaimee Smith said. “We really tried to work on building a defense, so I have different girls scoring at different times as well as with different skill sets.
“Those are kind of our points of emphasis at practice, making sure that we are working through our offense and working through our transition to make the game run really smooth.”
Oxford Hills punched in six more goals in the second half and its defense did an impressive job of keeping away the Cougars away from the Vikings’ net.
The Vikings’ last line of defense, goalie Tianna James, finished with four saves.
“Obviously, Tianna James had a great game in goal,” Smith said. “She has had a couple of great games. She can have command of the field in a really positive way that helps keep the defense moving as well as marking up and holding them accountable and responsible for what they need to do.”
Senior attacker Molly Littlefield and sophomore midfielder Kelsey Bennett each scored a pair of goals.
“I think that we played really hard against them. I think they really played hard against us, especially for being a new program this year,” Littlefield said. “I think we played our best. I think we kept on trying to challenge ourselves by running our difficult plays.”
Hallee, McKinley Soehren, Celia Melanson, Katie Toohey and Saige Winslow each helped out by scoring a goal.
The Cougars had a couple of golden opportunities to put a goal on the board, but James was there to prevent that from happening.
Jody Harmon and Elizabeth LeClair are first year coaches who took the job to make Mt. Blue’s girls lacrosse program move forward.
“We know the players,” Harmon, who is also Mt. Blue’s head field hockey coach, said. “There is a lot players that also play field hockey as well as a lot of other players in other sports that we couldn’t wait to know and get the program started.
“We haven’t had a lot time together. (The girls) are doing excellent. They all played with heart and never gave up.”
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