Gunnar Wade of Lewiston High School fires a shot on goal over Kyle Mooney of Edward Little during the third period in Lewiston on Wednesday. Wade scored on the play to put the Blue Devils up 7-4. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

LEWISTON — It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

The cliche proved to be true for the Lewiston boys’ lacrosse team Wednesday afternoon in its game against Edward Little at at Bates College’s Gracelon Field.

Leading by one going into the second half, the Blue Devils closed out the regular season with a 11-7 victory.

“I thought we came out a little flat in the first half,” Lewiston coach Ben Fournier said. “The message at halftime was to come out with a little more heart and a little more hustle, which they did. They came out ready to go, they came out flying to put a few quick ones in.”

Leading the way was Gunnar Wade, who had four goals, and Logan Michaud, who scored three.

“We started to play our game more, and that exploited their weaknesses,” Michaud said.

Wade scored twice to begin the third quarter and Michaud stretched the lead to 8-4.

That stretch was the difference maker.

“We wanted to make sure we played better in the third quarter,” EL coach Jim Dock said. “We had that little span that hurt us, but then we put it together and played much better after at that point.”

Fournier figured one of Lewiston’s three attackmen — Michaud, Wade and Brayden Charest — was bound to got hot in the second half.

“It’s nice to have an attack where are all three of them are scoring threats,” Fournier said. “If so they focus on one, it kinda opens up room for the other ones. If Gunnar pops in a few, they shade to his side and it frees up things for Logan. If they concreatrate things in the middle it frees up things on the other side for Brayden.”

Eli Thibodeau stopped Lewiston (9-3) surge with his second goal of the contest midway through the third quarter.

Jayden Wilson closed out the quarter with a goal to stretch the Blue Devils lead to 9-5. He opened up the fourth quarter with a goal, and Wade tallied the team’s final score of the contest.

“The major thing was the transition game,” Wade said. “We buried a lot (of goals) on our fastbreaks. We usually came up on man-up situations and we banged it around a couple of times and popped them in.”

Spencer Frahn capped the scoring in the game with two late goals for the Red Eddies (3-9).

The first half was back-and-forth battle. Sam Payne gave Lewiston a 1-0 lead 5:22 into the first half. Five minutes later, Dawson Tracey found the back of the net for the Red Eddies, with Tyler Morin getting the assist.

Both teams scored late in the first quarter. Payne picked up his second goal of the quarter, and Spencer Frohn tied it for EL with 19 seconds remaining.

The Red Eddies started the second quarter a man down on a stick infraction. They were able to kill Lewiston’s man-up situation. Shortly thereafter, EL was a man up, and it capitalized when Morin found Tracey again.

EL’s lead was extended to 4-2 when Thibodeau picked up his first goal of the afternoon off another Morin assist. That was the final goal the Red Eddies scored in the half.

“It was a streaky game, it’s a tough end to the season, but the boys played well, and we will see what happens next year,” Dock said.

Michaud cut the deficit to 4-3 off an assist by Wade 7:19 into the second quarter. Wade tied it, and Michaud gave Lewiston a 5-4 lead at halftime. Charest assisted on Michaud’s second goal.

nfournier@sunjournal.com

Nick Davis of Edward Little High School scoops up the ball in front of Gunnar Wade of Lewiston on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Trevor Eliasen of Lewiston High School competes for the ball during Wednesday’s game against Edward Little High School. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Garrett Poussard of Lewiston High School winds up a shot on goal during Wednesday’s game against Edward Little High School. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Cam Audette of Edward Little High School fires a shot on goal during Wednesday’s game against Lewiston. Audette’s shot went wide. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Jayden Wilson of Lewiston High School burns up the sideline as Cam Sturgis of Edward Little tries to force Wilson out-of-bounds during the first period on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Copy the Story Link