SCARBOROUGH — It’s a positive that comes from a negative.
On one hand, the Thornton Academy girls lacrosse team are backed into a corner after its 7-2 loss against Scarborough at Kippy Mitchell Field on Monday night.
On the other hand, the Golden Trojans (4-4), even in a losing effort, put forth one of its best performances of the year.
“Today was two good teams that played,” Thornton head coach Craig Agreste said. “I’m happy we played for 50 minutes. We hadn’t really played for 50 minutes since the first game of the year, so this is something we can build on.”
The build will have to be soon. The Trojans have four games remaining in the regular season, with Marshwood and Sanford being the only two teams in the group with a winning record. Even though Thornton is the #4 seed in Western Class A, in order to ensure a playoff berth, Thornton must win all four contests.
“I think this is something we have to work on and get better,” Agreste said. “When you play good teams like this, it either brings the best or worse out [of a team]. They brought the best out of us today. We’ve got to keep that level of play up the rest of the way.”
Thornton struck the first blow of the contest when Katelyn Pierson split the Scarborough defense and fired a shot past Red Storm goalie Meg Kirsch to give Thornton a 1-0 score less than two minutes into the game.
For the rest of the half, all the scoring would come from Scarborough. Kelsey Howard scored two goals for the Red Storm (7-1), while Maggie Smith and Laura Przybylowicz each scored goals to give Scarborough a 4-1 lead at halftime.
Howard led the Red Storm with three goals and two assists in the contest.
Michelle Giroux would score the only other Thornton goal on a free position shot five minutes into the second half, but it would be the last time the Trojans would score in the game.
Despite the seven goals, the Trojans provided plenty of defense, and goalie Allie McCarthy made six saves. However, turnovers in transition hurt Thornton greatly. Scarborough collected 17 takeaways.
“You have to give [Scarborough] credit,” Agreste said. “They put you in predicaments that you don’t want to be in. They’re very athletic, but they’re a good team. We definitely have some things we have to work on.”
The Trojans host Massabesic on Thursday.
— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318 or follow on Twitter @Dave_Dyer
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