SANFORD — The three-year old Sanford girls lacrosse program was pleased enough to be making its first-ever post-season appearance.

That doesn’t mean, however, that they were content with merely showing up for the playoffs.

They wanted more than that.

Which made Tuesday’s Western Maine preliminary round 10-7 win over No. 10 seed Noble all the more pleasing to the No. 7 Redskins, who will visit No. 2 Thornton Academy, in Thursday’s quarterfinal clash.

“It means a lot,” said junior attack Karissa Steltzer. “This is our third year of varsity, and to make it through the first round is amazing.”

Steltzer had a large hand in Sanford’s triumph, as she potted four goals, including the first one of the game.

“I don’t think these guys wanted it to be (one and done),” said Sanford coach Matt Petermann.

The Redskins took the lead 8:55 into the contest and never lost it.

Steltzer helped see to that by scoring twice in the first half, when Sanford led 3-1, and twice more in the second, giving the Redskins and 8-2 lead, their largest lead of the game.

“It’s not surprising,” said Petermann, “because I knew she could (finish). We had games this year where she had a lot of shots, but couldn’t quite get them in the net. In this game, it all came together.”

Steltzer’s first goal came with a wide open 30 foot shooting lane ahead of her. She froze the defense, then laced her shot in under the crossbar.

“I was shocked,” said Steltzer, “because I’m not usually a scorer. Usually Kassey Matoin and Sarah Alexandre are. But since they were drawing so many (defenders) away, they left a lot of people open. I seized the chance. I couldn’t believe I was open.”

Redskins goalie Kim Vogel didn’t see much action in the first half, but made key saves when called upon.

The most critical may have been 16:40 into the game, when she smothered a low attempt by Brittany Langevin to preserve the Redskins’ slim one goal margin.

Less than a minute later, Steltzer feed the ball to Haley Nordmann, who cashed it in to up the lead to 2-0.

Soon after, Steltzer netted her second goal of the game to make it 3-0, taking advantage of Noble’s double-teaming of Matoin and Alexandre to get an open shot.

“We knew,” said Petermann, “that Kassey and Sarah were going to get a lot of attention. I said ”˜you’ve got to watch for those openings.’ Karissa just parked herself in the middle every time. They had four girls on those other two, and she was just standing there, wide open.”

Steltzer was not the only Redskin to exploit her scoring chances. Junior Krystal Walsh scored twice in the second half, the first of which came :43 after intermission.

Noble made matters interesting by outscoring the Redskins 5-1 in a 10 minute span, to come to within 9-7 with 1:51 to play.

However, Sarah Dubois scored for Sanford in the waning seconds to seal the win.

“We were a little jittery at first,” said Steltzer. “It was our first playoff game. But we kicked it in, and we drove it all the way home.”

Boys Lacrosse

No. 9 Mustangs upset No. 8 Tigers

BIDDEFORD — Jake Staples and Corey Sanford each scored two goals, and net minder Colby Robinson pulled off 12 saves to help No. 9 Massabesic topple No. 8 Biddeford, in a Western Maine Class A boys lacrosse preliminary round game, Tuesday.

Staples netted the game’s opening goal in the early minutes of the first quarter. Sanford followed to give the Mustangs a 2-0 first quarter lead.

Massages (7-6) later opened a 6-2 lead on Cameron Wyman’s goal after the opening fourth quarter faceoff.

The Tigers (6-7) made matters interesting with two late goals, but couldn’t draw any closer.

Massabesic will now face No. 1 seed Portland, Thursday, in a Western Maine quarterfinal contest at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Faceoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 ext. 315 or dhickling@journaltribune.com.