WESTBROOK — It’s always nice to have an ace in the hole, for any sort of situation.
For the Kennebunk girls lacrosse team, Mother Nature added an assist Monday afternoon against Westbrook.
With the sun at its back, Kennebunk fired four goals past Blue Blazes goalie Lizzy Conley, who struggled with the glare of the late afternoon light throughout the second half, to win 8-2.
The win brings Kennebunk’s record to 2-1 on the young season.
It was an assist the Rams didn’t necessarily need, as Kennebunk held tight to a 3-1 lead at halftime. Senior attack Brooke Worcester led the Rams offensively with four goals during the contest, two goals scored per half.
Worcester credited her success to the team with being able to see the passing lanes and find the open players.
“Our team this year is really good at seeing the field,” Worcester said. “The girls are doing a really amazing job looking at the cutters. Today we were really focusing on staying big and using the lanes and I think we did that really well today.”
Worcester opened the scoring with less than two minutes to play at the start of the game. Westbrook answered back with a goal minutes later by Vanessa Bradbury, tying the game at 1-1. It would be the only time the game would be tied.
Kennebunk kept the pressure on Conley throughout the half, sending 15 shots her way. Ali Bush broke the tie with a goal midway through the first half, and Worcester added her second goal to head into halftime with the 3-1 lead.
Westbrook scored the first goal of the second half, on a shot from Ciera Bellino, but it would be the last time the Blazes would score for the rest of the game. Rams goalie Kellie Renk shut down Westbrook, collecting eight saves.
Offensively, the Rams continued to pour it on, as Worcester scored her final two goals, and Molly Centore, Camille Auger and Taylor Crowley each added a goal to secure the win for Kennebunk.
Though early in the season, the Rams are on the right path to continue its success from last season, when Kennebunk finished at the state runner-up.
Worcester said there’s similarities and differences to last year’s squad, which finished with a 12-3 record.
“I think there’s a little bit of both,” Worcester said. “We lost a lot of good shooters last year, and this year we’re a lot younger. We’re stacked with juniors for sure, and we have some sophomores in there too. But we definitely evened out this year. We lost players, but we’ve really picked up in different places. We work really well together, and I think we balance it out well.”
To be successful, Worcester said the Rams will need to keep up with the good work on its already successful transition game, and to keep up the communication on the field.
“We work really well on our transition, I think we do a good job moving the ball down the field,” Worcester said. “Communication is huge with us. We do a really great job seeing each other, talking to each other, telling each other where to go, what to do.”
— Contact Staff Writer Dave Dyer at 282-1535, Ext. 318.
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