TOPSHAM — The Edward Little boys lacrosse team didn’t light up the scoreboard on Tuesday night, but its defense didn’t allow Mt. Ararat to do so, either.
The Red Eddies shut down the Eagles in the second half and strung together four straight goals to end the game on their way to a 6-4 win.
Haydon Emery, a junior, had two goals and an assist for Edward Little (2-1), while sophomore goalie Logan Billings stopped 14 shots.
“We’re a team that thrives in the gritty situations,” Edward Little coach Tyler Haskell said. “We showed it, to not us but everybody else, that EL has grit. We work hard, we play hard, we play to that final whistle, we’re not going to give up.”
Nolan Greenleaf, a senior, had a goal and an assist for Mt. Ararat (1-2), and Jack Young made nine saves.
How it happened
• The Eagles got on the board at 5:45 in the first quarter, as Greenleaf dished to junior midfielder Luke Anderson. Junior Caiden Strout answered for the Red Eddies 42 seconds later, and a little more than a minute after that, Emery set up Orrin Slover for an open-net goal.
• While up a man with 5:55 left in the second, junior attacker Brennan Fitzpatrick found junior midfielder Phoenix Norton as Mt. Ararat tied the game. The Eagles retook the lead less than a minute before halftime, as Greenleaf converted a turnover and a ground ball from Norton. Momentum carried into the second half, as junior long-stick midfielder Nick White scooped a ball and raced downfield to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead.
• Senior Dexter Morin and Emery each scored in the third quarter to tie the game, then Edward Little capitalized on its numbers advantages in the final frame. Junior Hunter Bailey backed down a short-handed Mt. Ararat defense as the Eddies retook the lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter, and Emery collected a rebounded shot and sent it back into the net to make it 6-4 with 3:18 to go.
“We started sliding a lot more, and it gave us a lot more opportunities to score,” Emery said.
“As soon as we were getting the ball (in the first half), we were trying to score immediately, and we weren’t getting set up on offense,” Haskell said. “But in the second half, I told the guys, ‘We’re not in a rush. If you have a good look right when you get the ball, yeah, it’s OK to get a shot as long as somebody is backing up. But, let’s get it out of the offensive zone. Let’s get into our set. Let’s spin the ball around, get the defense thinking, get the defense tired, and execute.'”
Notable quotables
• “First half, I kind of was sleeping. I mean, I wasn’t really paying attention to the ball. But second half, I was really just watching the ball, watching the sticks, (doing) all I can do.” — Edward Little sophomore goalie Logan Billings
• “We were just trying to work the ball around a little bit more (in the second half.) We recognized the fact that that’s what we really needed to do. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get our passes on today. That was the biggest thing, passes and ground balls. I would say, if we tighten up those two pieces of our game, I think we’ll do well.” — Mt. Ararat coach Jason Lachance
Up next
• Mt. Ararat at Mt. Blue/Carrabec (1-2), 3 p.m. Saturday.
• Edward Little vs. MCI/Nokomis (0-2), 10 a.m. Saturday.
