WATERBORO – It rained a bit Tuesday morning.

It was enough to dampen the grass in Waterboro, and moisten the fields at Massabesic High School, which were perhaps a day or two overdue for a mow. But if you were to listen to the bench of the Windham girls’ lacrosse team (2-5) – who were ousted 5-1 by the Mustangs (6-1) on Sept. 20 – you’d think the field was a jungle.

The conditions left Windham Head Coach Christena Dillon so frustrated that she refused comment following the final whistle, instead turning to team captain Sarah Scvorak to do the talking.

“The field was much longer than we were expecting,” Scvorak said simply. “And it was kind of bumpy. I mean, it affected our playing a little bit.”

To be fair, the Eagles’ distress was certainly not helped by a football practice occurring on an adjacent field. Occasional loud whistles appeared to disrupt play in the game, although it affected both sides.

“It was raining all day, and they did their best to get it playable, and (this sport) is (played in wet conditions sometimes),” said Massabesic Head Coach Michele Martin-Moore. “And both teams have to play on the same field.”

According to Martin-Moore, this wasn’t some kind of underhanded “home field advantage” at work, either.

“We are not used to it being this long ourselves,” she said. “We don’t practice on this field so it can be playable on days like this – we practice on a practice field. So, you know, it’s one of those things you cannot control.”

Regardless, things unfolded in a rather lopsided fashion from the get-go. The Mustangs hit their first goal on a second-chance tip-in by Allie Braley just 4:45 in, then took a 2-0 lead 10 minutes later as Braley again finished following three brilliant saves by Windham keeper Andrea Feeny.

Somewhat worrisome for the Mustangs, the team went only 1-for-9 on corners in the first, although their nine chances were indicative of how much time the two teams spent on Windham’s end of the field, as well as the Eagles’ tenacious defense.

“Our defense did a really good job playing the corners, going where they were supposed to and marking strokes,” Scvorak said. “They knew just where they were supposed to be. They did a good job.”

The one letdown, however, came on the final play of the half, as the Mustangs got the ball to captain Taylor Bergeron at the top of the circle, and Bergeron nailed a clean ground ball by Feeny to make it 3-0 at the break.

“We’re working on (corners),” Martin-Moore said. “They were actually better on that then in the Noble game. So it is starting to go back up in the right direction. But that is one thing that we are working on.”

Massabesic tacked on two more in the second half, scoring 3:47 in on a second-effort shot by Alex Staples after she had her first shot stopped by an opposing stick. The fifth Mustang goal came with 12:52 to go as Hannah Patch connected on a ball in a melee just in front of the Eagles’ cage.

Windham’s lone goal came with just over 11 minutes to go, as Molly McVetty tore down the right sideline, looked off a pass and took the shot herself to make it 5-1. It was too little, too late to get the Eagles into the win column.

“We feel pretty good,” Braley said. “We are working together as a team, and we have been pretty successful because of that. We are definitely moving forward. The next couple of games will be challenges, but we will stick together and just try to keep improving.”

Massabesic’s Samantha Emmons, left, shoots by the stick of
Windham’s Marina Davidson during the first half on Sept. 20.
Davidson later went down with a worrying blow to her kneecap, but
appeared to just suffer a bruise. (Staff photo by Emory Rounds)