AUBURN — The Lewiston girls lacrosse team was eager to get on the field after a couple of stints in quarantine.
In their first game of the season, the Blue Devils’ offense made up for lost time in a 16-3 win over rival Edward Little at Walton Field on Friday.
Senior Charlotte Gastonguay led the attack with eight goals, along with two assists, while senior Brie Dube scored four goals and had three assists.
“We really worked well as a team and our tempo was really high,” Gastonguay said. “We always went super hard on the groundballs and on every play. I think that’s why we came out with the win because of our tempo of play and how we executed that.”
Lewiston (1-0) coach Tracey Blaisdell thought her team did a good job keeping themselves in lacrosse shape while the players were in quarantine.
“When we were in quarantine, we weren’t (practicing) but we did virtual (meetings), we connected that way,” Blaisdell said. “We stayed in touch with the kids and we talked about what they could do, being in quarantine, what activities they could do. I really think how they played today, they did. I think they kept their skills up and we got better as the game went on.”
Despite the lopsided score, Edward Little (1-4) coach Shaun McKinnon said he was proud that his team played hard to the final whistle.
“We have a lot of positives to take away from this game,” McKinnon said. “The girls worked hard and they stayed in it the entire time; I am proud of them for that. We will have a tough week of practice coming up; we will get it going and get it right.”
Gastonguary scored three goals in the first 14 minutes of the first half to give Lewiston a 3-0 lead.
Bella Jean Swift put the Red Eddies on the board with a shot that bounced off the ground past Lewiston goalie Emma Begin (eight saves).
Then Gastonguay and Dube began to connect, starting with Dube assisting on Gastonguay’s fourth goal of the game. Dube then stretched the Blue Devils’ lead to 5-1 and Gastonguay added her fifth goal to make it 6-1.
Gastonguay is in her first season at Lewiston after transferring from St. Dominic Academy, where she played her freshman and sophomore seasons and was part of the Saints’ Class C state championship team in 2019.
“We were really excited for her to come to Lewiston because she’s a great player,” Dube said. “She’s really great to work with and she always knows where to be — and she’s good at making the right plays.”
After McKinnon called a timeout, Edward Little’s Lila Davin won a faceoff and ran downfield to score the Red Eddies’ second goal and cut Lewiston’s lead to 6-2.
The Blue Devils, though, added five goals in the final six minutes of the half. Dube scored twice, and Rebecca Lussier, Lily Gish and Gastonguay tallied one goal apiece.
After the intermission, Caroline Audette scored Edward Little’s third goal 30 seconds into the second half.
“We always give (the girls) the last five minutes of halftime to talk among themselves,” McKinnon said. “That seems to work, and that’s two games in a row that they came out of halftime and scored a goal. We are proud of them for that, but we need to get better. We need to keep the intensity up the entire game.”
Dube scored off a free-position shot to extend Lewiston’s lead 12-3 four minutes into the second half.
Gastonguay scored the next two goals for Lewiston and Cecilia Miller capped the scoring with a pair of goals in the final two minutes of the game.
Edward Little goalie Erin Anderson made four saves.
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