Girls hockey: Lewiston rallies to beat Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland

LEWISTON — Courtney Lachance’s two goals led the Lewiston girls hockey team to a 5-3 come-from-behind win over rival Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland on Saturday at The Colisee.

Despite falling behind by two goals, the Blue Devils stuck to their game plan, Lachance said.

“We had a rough start and we pushed through, kept our heads up, and we never stopped skating,” Lachance said. “The third period was definitely our best period. We played how we practiced.”

Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland coach Dana Berube said the Red Hornets couldn’t keep up with Blue Devils down the stretch.

“We had a good game, I was proud of the all the girls,” Berube said. ” I thought Lewiston has probably more skaters than us, and that showed up in the third when we seemed to run out of gas.”

Trailing 3-1 late in the second period, the Blue Devils (8-4) ramped up the pressure, and Lachance’s wrap-around attempt squeaked past the goal line to get Lewiston within one goal, 3-2.

Lachance said she was surprised the puck went into the net.

“That was very exciting for me; I didn’t expect it to go in — especially from my backhand,” Lachance said.

Alyssa Marcoux evened the game up for Lewiston when her shot from the slot got past Red Hornets goalie Emily Quinnell (16 saves) five minutes into the third period.

Lewiston coach Scott Laberge said the Blue Devils know they can always count on Marcoux to step up when needed.

“Alyssa hasn’t had a bad game this year,” Laberge said. “She’s that type of player; she plays the right way every game.”

Ava Geoffroy gave Lewiston its first lead midway through the third with a shot from the right circle that deflected off a Red Hornets (1-10) player and into the goal.

Laberge said Lewiston forced Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland to skate backwards in the third period.

“The third period, they did a much better job of getting the puck in deep and trying to get their (defense) turned around and generate offense in their zone,” Laberge said. “We spent most of the period in their zone.”

Lachance added an insurance marker with about a minute remaining in the game, tapping home a feed from Marcoux. Avaya Desjardins also had an assist on the final goal.

The Blue Devils, who not much earlier trailed by two goals, now had a two-goal lead, 5-3.

“You can see the sigh of relief a little bit,” Laberge said. “Nobody was pinching their sticks as much; everybody was taking their time taking the puck out of the zone. There was no panic with a two-goal lead.”

Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Ella Labelle set up Alyssa Prosser for the game’s first goal of the game, giving the Red Hornets a 1-0 lead midway through the first period.

Lewiston defender Sarah Mack fed Fiona Landry with a pass, and Landry tied the contest early in the second period.

The Red Hornets attacked the slot midway through the second period, and Kylee Spugnardi’s slap shot beat Lewiston goalie Kim McLaughlin (15 saves). Labelle also assisted on that goal.

Shortly after, Prosser scored her second goal of the game from the slot for a 3-1 Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland lead.

Berube said Prosser and Spugnardi were two of Saturday’s standout players.

“I thought the best players on the ice all showed up for both teams,” Berube said. “Geoffroy had another good game; I thought Marcoux had another good game. Of course, I thought our two top players were factors on the ice when they were out there.”