AUBURN — Shay Rosenthal and the Deering Rams wore down Edward Little in Wednesday’s girls lacrosse matchup.
Rosenthal scored seven times in the 16-5 victory, Deering’s first of the season. The Rams outscored the Red Eddies 9-0 in the second half.
“She’s incredible. She’s a leader on the team, and we always look to her to get the energy going and uplift our team,” Deering coach Jacki Kelly said. “Everyone rises to her energy.”
Rosenthal said winning draws helped create the offense.
“We lost that first one and they scored on us within 15 seconds,” Rosenthal said. “We knew we had to bounce back, and we won some draws, got some transition offense going, and had some great saves from our keeper, Mel (Zalikhova), a first-year goalie. Great defense. We got everything clicking.”
Madison MacFawn scored three times, while Izzy Hayes had two tallies for the Red Eddies.
“They are both tremendous players that do great on the defensive end as well,” Edward Little coach Shaun McKinnon said. “They are our main goal scorers, and Stella Smith, too, she did a nice job. She had a couple of looks today.”
Edward Little (1-4) struck first after Hayes won the opening draw and scored 12 seconds into the game.
“I thought the girls came out ready to play,” McKinnon said. “We started out with a goal, which is always good. All credit to Deering; they did a really nice job on the defensive end in the second quarter and on to shut us down.”
After winning the opening faceoff, Edward Little’s Izzy Hayes takes a shot and scores on the first shot of the game Tuesday in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Deering (1-4) scored twice 43 seconds apart in the first quarter when Olivia Cherry tied the game two minutes in and Rosenthal gave the Rams their first lead of the game.
The two quick goals reset the Rams.
“Being able to do that, brought in that high energy and our mindset is every quarter is 0-0. We want to keep bringing in that energy and reset every quarter,” Kelly said.
MacFawn battled her way through Deering’s defense to even the game at 2-2 for the Red Eddies later in the first.
The Rams created some distance on the scoreboard with three straight goals. Isabella Figdor gave Deering a 3-2 lead and Lauren Jackson used her speed in the middle field to double the lead. Rosenthal scored right before the first quarter ended to make it 5-2.
Edward Little’s offense got back on track in the second, starting with MacFawn scoring her second of the game off the opening faceoff of the quarter. A minute later, Hayes scored on a free position, and about a minute after that MacFawn netted her third goal to tie the game at 5-5.
“We knew they were good ballhandlers and our goal was to make sure we had girls ready to crash on that space, and they were all able to execute that plan,” Kelly said.
Rosenthal scored twice midway through the second quarter to give the Rams a 7-5 advantage.
The third quarter got off to a defensive start, with Deering goalie Mel Zalikhov and Edward Little goalie Piper Holinger making key early stops for their clubs.
Elisa Freeman got Deering’s offense going when she sprinted toward Edward Little’s goal and fired the ball past Holinger midway through the quarter. Maya Zager and Rosenthal scored shortly after to push the Rams’ lead to 10-5.
“I thought our defense did pretty well, but we gave them too many opportunities to score,” McKinnon said. “I am proud of everybody working hard and constantly trying to improve.”
Fidor ran around the Red Eddies’ goal to score her second goal of the game early into the fourth. Rosenthal added her sixth tally and Sofia Nieves and Quincey Cummings scored their first goals of the game to make it 14-5.
Deering’s Shay Rosenthal follows through on a shot that rocketed past Edward Little goalie Piper Holinger during the Rams’ 16-5 win on Tuesday in Auburn. Rosenthal scored seven goals. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Cummings scored again on a bounce shot to give Deering a 10-goal lead, and Rothenthal capped the scoring with another free-position goal.
Eight players scored goals for the Rams.
“It’s awesome,” Rosenthal said. “It helps everyone know what they can do. Before, people on attack didn’t have many touches with the ball, but now they know they can score goals.”
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