SACO — It was a play that was begging to be run. Or stopped.

Thornton Academy ran it to perfection three times on its way to an 8-4 win over Gorham, in an SMAA boys lacrosse tilt, Wednesday.

Junior Steve Woodcock led the Golden Trojans’ offense with three goals, all assisted by Mark Verrill, and each of them scored in identical fashion.

From the slot.

That’s where the slippery Woodcock stationed himself to receive centering feeds from Verrill, and converted a trio of them.

“It’s basically a sneak play,” said Woodcock. “It takes the attention off me when Mark comes up (with the ball). I sneak in behind my defender, because he’s caught looking at him.”

The pair hooked up the first time 3:47 into the game to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead.

As Woodcock shaded toward the left side of the crease, Verrill found him with a bullet pass which Woodcock converted with a right handed flick of the stick.

“I get wide open,” said Woodcock, “and we do a little magic.”

After Codie Dube made it 2-0 with the first of his two tallies, Woodcock struck again for the only goal of the second quarter.

Again, it was made possible when the diminutive Woodcock snuck to a spot in front of Rams goalie Chris Wilcox.

“When we’re able to clear the crease like that,” said Thornton first-year coach Jeff Koch, “that leaves a lot of room for those ”˜squirrelly’ guys to get the ball moving pretty fast.”

By squirrelly, Koch meant Woodcock.

“Sometimes guys can over look him,” Koch said. “He’s very fast, and he’s got a great stick. When he’s squirrelly, he can run right around guys, and the next thing you know the ball’s in the back of the net.”

Nothing reached the twine of the Thornton goal in the first half, thanks to the work of net minder Chris Driscoll.

Driscoll wasn’t tested often — he made just eight saves — but came up large when he had to.

His stop on Gorham’s Aaron Laporte late in the first half, and on Justin Bahr in the opening moments of the second, were momentum killers.

“They were unbelievable saves,” said Woodcock. “Unbelievable. He did a great job and kept us in the game.”

Woodcock netted his third goal, 3:40 into the third quarter, when he polished off a three-way passing play that began with a lead feed from long pole Stephen Andreades to Verrill.

“This year,” said Koch, “he’s really established himself as a ”˜snipe-shooter.’ That’s the confidence that he didn’t have last year. Now he knows that it’s time for him to step up, and he’s doing that.”

The Trojans ran their lead to 6-1 early in the fourth, before Gorham struck back for three straight goals.

Among them were two of the three goals tallied by Luc Robitaille.

However, the Trojans sealed the win with late goals by Joe Penna and Chris Dolewa.

Thornton will take the field again Monday when York will visit.

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 ext. 318 or dhickling@gwi.net.