“Keep it simple, stop the ball,” Lepage said. “That’s about it.”

Lepage was dazzling in the fourth quarter and overtime Wednesday, turning back 10 Brunswick shots in the game’s final 16 minutes to help lead the Blue Devils to a 9-8 victory over the Dragons.

“I definitely cannot take full responsibility for that at all,” a humble Lepage said. “I just tried to play my best.”

If there was a misstep to find in Lepage’s game Wednesday, it was a near-costly turnover in his own end in overtime. He played the ball, left his crease and then reentered his crease, a violation that turned the ball back over the Brunswick.

But again, the Dragons’ offense couldn’t beat Lepage and the rest of the Devils’ defense.

“They played really well on defense, and we were stagnant on offense,” Brunswick coach Don Glover said. “We weren’t dodging as hard as we normally do. We weren’t distributing the ball as well as we’ve done in the past.

Advertisement

“And their keeper played really well. That kind of slowed our momentum down, kind of broke our back at times.”

Lewiston regained possession after the turnover, pushed to midfield and called timeout.

Out of that stoppage, Max Bolduc took on three defenders, dodged his way into open space and fired a shot past Brunswick keeper Chris MrVichin with 15.5 seconds remaining, lifting Lewiston (7-2) to the win.

Bolduc was one of four Lewiston players to score Wednesday, with Tanner Hubbard leading the way with five.

“One of the things we’re preaching, it’s not one guy going out there and trying to dodge the opposing defenders,” Fournier said. “It’s six-on-six, everybody gets involved, that’s what they did and it worked out in the end for us.”

The win avenges a 12-4 Lewiston loss to Brunswick early in the season.

Advertisement

“The guys are learning to play under a new system, new coaches,” Fournier said. “Some of the stuff we’re yelling at them, they don’t even know yet. It doesn’t compute. But they’re doing a great job of picking stuff up and just playing as a team.”

“I’m excited for Lewiston. I know Ben very well,” Glover said. “We go way back to the point where he was playing against our team, so to see him develop the program and get it back up to very competitive lacrosse, very exciting lacrosse, that’s great.”

Glover’s squad had the advantage early. Two goals 46 seconds apart put the visitors in front in the first frame, both from Ryan Croatti. Reilly Bolduc and Shawn Gagnier popped in a goal each for Lewiston at the tail end of the first to even things back up, only to watch as Brunswick’s Bailey Caparrato scored two of his own in the second to put the Dragons in front, 4-2, at the half.

“Honestly, in the first half, we did not execute things well,” Glover said. “The halftime speech was more, think about your lacrosse and play well. At the same time, Lewiston was playing very well, so we knew it was going to be a dogfight for the rest of the game.”

Hubbard took over the scoring in the third quarter, netting four of his five goals to give Lewiston its first lead, 6-5.

“I really don’t know what it is,” Fournier said. “All year, we’ve played well in the first half, third quarter we seem to have kind of a lull, and then fourth quarter we come roaring back. (Wednesday) we didn’t have that lull in the third, and that’s where we tied it up and took the lead, which helped in the long run.”

TJ Sullivan’s strike with 53 seconds left in the third tied the game as it headed to the fourth. Each team scored twice, and each led by a goal at one point in the fourth, but it was a Gagnier shot on a whiffed shot by Hubbard that sent the game into extra time.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: