AUBURN — Edward Little made most of its chances in Tuesday’s field hockey game against Lewiston.
The Red Eddies put only five shots on goal but still came away with a 2-1 victory over their rivals.
“It was a midfield type of game,” Edward Little coach Kim Jolar said. “It was pretty even right up until the (end). They are quick, they are experienced. But we are quick. And we work hard.”
Adrianna Couture scored the game-winning goal in the fourth quarter, breaking a 1-1 tie. She said it was important for the Eddies to stay focused and energized.
“This is our home turf. Every game we come out here, we have a lot of drive to keep the energy up,” Couture said. “I think that came out in the fourth quarter.”
Fiona Landry gave the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead in the first quarter when she battled through a scrum and put the ball in the cage. Reese Maynard had the assist.
Lewiston coach Jenessa Talarico was pleased with the Blue Devils’ strong start.
“We have started slow in many games, and I really enforce the issue,” Talarico said. “We can not be asleep to start the game; and they came out ready to go, so that’s good.”
Joler said the early deficit refocused the Edward Little.
“That was a little surprising, it kind of put our heads back into the game,” Joler said. “It got some of the jitters out, and we were working as best as we could, making some quick plays.
The Red Eddies (3-2) responded early in the second quarter when Leah Thibodeau found the back of the net. Nora Condit set up the play and recorded the assist.
Lewiston (3-2) couldn’t convert a couple of chances late in the second quarter, including a shot that went wide of the cage.
“We did a good job of defending corners. There were more than I wanted,” Joler said. “They are very quick, and they are good with their dodges. We have some things that we need to work on, but we will move on.”
On the Blue Devils’ second penalty corner early in the third quarter, Gabrialla Thomas fired the ball into Edward Little’s net, but the officials ruled the shot came from outside the circle and didn’t count.
“They had a lot of good corners and drawing them up,” Talarico said of her team. “Unfortunately, we got one taken away, which is tough. If we touch that in the circle, it’s probably a different game.”
Lewiston had two more penalty corners later in the third quarter, but the Red Eddies cleared the ball out of danger both times.
With the score still tied 1-1, Edward Little had a shot just miss the net early in the fourth quarter.
“They had more energy than us,” Talarico said. “Fatigue has been a problem for us in a lot of fourth quarters. We had several injuries in the summer with some of our key players, so I don’t think they were able to keep up their endurance over the summer as much as we would have hoped. We are trying to get that back where it needs to be.”
Couture broke the tie when she fired a rebound past Lewiston goalie Sarah Mack (three saves) off a penalty corner with 5:34 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“We were in the last quarter, so we knew we had to put it away,” Couture said. “I think it was a team effort on that corner. We were all waiting.”
The Blue Devils had a shot go wide of Edward Little goalie Kasey Smith (three saves) with 30 seconds remaining.
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