Girls lacrosse: Lewiston blows past Edward Little in third quarter

LEWISTON — A big second half helped Lewiston pull away for a 17-5 girls lacrosse win over rival Edward Little on Thursday.

Eight different Blue Devils (3-4) players scored goals, led by Maddie Cote with four and Anna Courtemanche and Lauren Landry with three apiece.

“Oh, my gosh, so exciting,” Cote said about the win. “I knew from the start we would have a good grip on this because we’ve been waiting for this game, and we just put it all out there and ended up doing our best.”

One of Cote’s four goals for Lewiston was scored in the first quarter off of a free position shot. Although she’s practiced those quite a bit, they can still be intimidating.

“When I’m standing on the line, I get so nervous,” Cote said. “I don’t want to psych myself out, but (I know) my teammates are supporting me, always.”

Edward Little’s (1-5) Madison MacFawn was first to score in the game, and Kaelyn Langlois added another goal in the second quarter.

Red Eddies coach Shaun McKinnon said he was proud of how well the team played in the first half, holding Lewiston to two goals in the first quarter and four goals in the second quarter.

“We’ve been working out a lot of things in practice on offense and defensively, and for 10, 15 or 20 minutes at a time in game we do a really good job,” McKinnon said. “We’ve got to clean up the other things, but I’m so proud of them. I always tell them it’s not about the scoreboard — that doesn’t define them as an individual.”

McKinnon added that the 24-person roster features several freshmen who have never played lacrosse, but he reminds the team to “trust the process and focus on the fundamentals.” Interest in the sport has increased with the construction of Auburn’s new athletic facilities, as well as McKinnon’s effort while interacting with freshmen athletes each day as an Edward Little faculty member.

“We have moments of greatness in the game, so we just have to do it for 48 minutes,” McKinnon said. “My message to our girls is, I’m proud of them, and we just got to trust the process and keep getting better every day.”

The Blue Devils led 6-2 at halftime and then poured in 11 goals in the second half.

Lewiston coach Jeremy Finney said the Blue Devils got off to a slow to start offensively, likely due to Thursday’s cold and rainy conditions. He said he knew that Edward Little would come out fast and strong, and at halftime encouraged the Blue Devils to step up and play their style of lacrosse.

“When we were at halftime, we weren’t really really playing our game,” Finney said. “But everyone got behind each other, refocused and we went out there and played our game. It’s the support, even with the freshmen out there, so it’s really it’s everyone supporting each other.”

Finney also shouted out freshman Ellasyn Trider for scoring her first ever goal during the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

Landry said the difference between the slow first half and dominant second half for Lewiston was the attitude and positivity adjustments the entire team made at halftime.

“Once we start getting in the groove of things, our attitude becomes so much more positive and we start working well as a team together, and everything flows better,” Landry said. “I feel like (we start) talking to each other and inspiring each other to go and get a win and work hard, get ground balls and pass and really come together as a team.”

The sideline was loud for all 17 goals scored by the Blue Devils, which Landry said doesn’t come as a surprise because of how supportive this year’s team is of each other, and because it’s exciting any time a player has the chance to score, whether it’s their first or fourth goal of the game.

“It’s great to have all those options on offense,” Finney said. “We can spread that love around, and it’s just finding the opportunity for them.

“A lot of times we get pressured low, so we got to find it high. Sometimes, we get pressured high and we’re going to find the goals from low, so it’s great to be able to know that we have the options in almost every position.”

Finney also noted that Lewiston readjusted its defensive style to a higher pressure with faster crashes to limit Edward Little’s shots in the second half.

Red Eddies junior attacker and captain Izzy Hayes was able to slip past the Blue Devils’ high pressure to score two goals.

“She’s so good on offense, so good on defense and really controls the game for us by taking the draws,” McKinnon said. “She works incredibly hard in the offseason, works incredibly hard in practice, and she runs our offense. She’s a leader on this team and we’re lucky to have her.”

Blake Hamel also had a goal for Edward Little.

Other goal scorers for Lewiston besides Courtemanche, Cote, Landry and Trider were Kaitlyn Shannon and Crew Langley with two goals apiece and Gabby Roy and Madison Langlais with one each.