RUMFORD — It might feel like starting from scratch at times, but Mountain Valley coach Kristen Provencher certainly can’t fault the effort from her squad this season, and that was evident Monday in contest against Lincoln Academy.

Kayla Pingree and Nicole Burgess each scored five goals as the Falcons pulled away in the second half for a 15-11 win over the Eagles at the Hosmer Complex.

The contest was highly competitive from the opening whistle between the two-evenly matched teams. Action went back and forth, with the score either tied or changing sides 13 times in the first 31 minutes. Neither team had more than a one goal lead until Pingree scored on a rush with 17:41 left to play.

“This was a highly-competitive game,” Pingree said. “There isn’t much difference between Lincoln Academy and us, we both came in with two losses and it was a matter of who wanted that first win. But, we played well and the defense stepped up.”

Mountain Valley (1-2) had tied the game when Pingree scored on a penalty shot, and then Burgess scored less than one minute later for an 8-7 lead with 19:19 remaining in the game. That began a stretch of six unanswered goals for the Falcons, who led 12-7.

Pingree and Burgess each scored to push the lead to 10-7, when an incident occurred that ultimately changed the complexion of the game. Falcons defender Abby Day was slashed on the head with Lincoln Academy on offense, resulting in Kate Riley being assessed a two-minute penalty and the Eagles having to play down a player.

“I really didn’t make any adjustments during halftime,” Provencher said. “It was simply trying to get the girls pumped up to see who wanted it more. The skill level isn’t there for us, we are young with 12 freshmen and a majority of my seniors had never picked up a stick before.”

Lincoln Academy (0-3) took a 7-6 lead on goals by Riley and Laura Otterbein to begin the second half. The Eagles were shutout for the next 13 minutes.

Mountain Valley goalie Jordan True (16 saves) held firm, while defenders Alexa Fryover, Stacey Roberts and Joey Buccina helped clear the zone.

“Jordan True really made some outstanding saves,” said Provencher, whose team has a rematch against Lincoln Academy on Thursday in Newcastle. “It definitely helped that the game was close and then we took the lead. Playing in that type of situation gives Jordan more confidence.”

The Falcons’ Jessica Theriault had tied the game at 2-2 and Katie Puiia retied it 3-3, before Fryover outlet a pass to Burgess who scored, for a 6-5 lead at halftime.

Tess Fields scored three of her four goals in the final two minutes of the game.