Varsity experience hasn’t been necessary for the undefeated Lewiston boys’ lacrosse team. The precocious Blue Devils cruised to their third consecutive win to christen the Class A East campaign, 11-1, over rival Edward Little on Saturday night at Don Roux Field.
Freshman Alex Rivet scored four goals, giving him nine in three games, and chipped in two assists.
Seven of Lewiston’s goals came from ninth-graders, two from sophomores and two from juniors.
“We’re clicking pretty good. We’ve played a lot of (youth) travel,” Rivet said. “High school varsity is different. It’s bigger kids.”
The Devils haven’t shown any wide, awestruck eyes. They have outscored opponents 31-10 thus far.
Jayden Wilson, also a freshman, scored twice. Griffin Wade added a goal and an assist. Roman Dennis, Mohamed Khalid, Darius Phillips and Gunnar Wade each found the net.
Eleven different players registered a goal or an assist for Lewiston.
“We’re definitely young. Communication, as a team, we’re playing very well together, and I think that makes up for the being young part,” Lewiston coach Ben Fournier said.
Lewiston scored in the final 15 seconds of each period in the first half, building leads of 4-0 and 8-0 at the checkpoints.
EL defensive stalwarts Zach Gosselin, Ben Steele, Isaac Cote and Ethan Nadeau provided ample resistance early, but the Eddies let up three goals in the final 3:23 of the first quarter and saw their upset hopes quickly slip away.
“That’s a tough one, especially when it’s a rivalry,” EL coach Chris Carpentier said. “We just don’t know how to handle this type of pressure yet.”
Cote collected the Eddies’ lone goal, Cam Nadeau assisting, with 1:18 remaining in the third period.
That merely cut the gap to 10-1, and all 11 fourth-quarter shots on goal belonged to Lewiston.
“These games are still tough. We knew this one was going to be a scrappy little battle, especially on groundballs,” Fournier said. “We’ve been preaching play complete games from the first whistle to the last whistle. The last two games they’ve delivered on that, which has been good to see.”
Lewiston suits up only four seniors: Starting defensemen Griffin Morin, Sabin Lavorgna and Ty Murphy and midfielder Tyler County.
Murphy and County each had an assist.
“It’s teamwork. No one person is moving up and down the field. We’re moving as a unit,” Rivet said. “We’re working hard in practice. The sprints, the passing, the teamwork, the team bonding have all helped us a lot. We study each other. We’re like brothers, and we just work together and get the job done.”
Sophomore Bryan Wagg made six saves for Lewiston. Brandon Asselin and Noah Sterling combined for 11 stops in the EL cage.
The Eddies were missing seven players due to April vacation family commitments, Carpentier said.
“Our lacrosse IQ isn’t there yet,” he added. “I know we have potential. It’s still a long season.”
Even though Lewiston has a lengthy history of being a top team in the East, it has never had such a large group of players so skilled so early in their career.
“We’re starting to notice kids who played all through youth and middle school, and you can just tell they’ve got a better handle,” Fournier said. “Defensively, that’s where we have all our seniors. It starts with them. The leadership trickles into the offense, and it sets the tone for our whole team.”
koakes@sunjournal.com
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