It took 25 minutes, or the first-half, for the Freeport sticks to warm up according to its coach, but once the Falcons, they tallied 11 second-half goals to pull away from North Yarmouth Academy, 18-8 in Class C girls lacrosse action on Tuesday.
The first half wasn’t all that bad for the Falcons, firing 18 shots in the first 25 minutes, beating Panthers goalie Maya Davis for seven goals.
“We like to give everyone a touch and include everyone on our team,” Freeport’s Chloe Davidson said. “We have a lot of depth and we’re trying to bring our underclassman along since we start a lot of seniors.”
Freeport answered when Davidson notched her second goal of the half and assisted Taylor Dostie just 23 seconds later to put the Falcons back ahead, 4-3 with 8:25 left in the frame.
NYA’s Bella MacMahon and Freeport’s Emma Carter traded goals before Taylor Rinaldi netted the final two goals of the half to push the Falcons ahead 7-4 at the break.
The Falcons held a slight advantage in shots, 18-16, and in draw controls, 7-6, in the first half.
“I told the girls to slow down, we need to play our game,” Wood said. “NYA came out and surprised us a little with good passes and it caught us off guard.
“So I said ‘play your game, win the draw, push it to goal and if you don’t have anything, bring it behind and set it up.’”
Second half
Although NYA won the first draw control, the Falcons began dominating the Panthers and began to play “their game” just as their coach told them to do so at halftime.
Freeport scored five goals in a 2:17 span early in the second half to stun the Panthers.
It was the experience and skilled players that gave Freeport the advantage in draw controls, winning seven of the first eight in the half. Rinaldi was the driving force in the draw control wins, feeding Dostie for the first three goals of the half.
“I tell the girls if they have a lane, take it,” Wood said. “We have had a lot of success with our transition game so far this season.”
Trailing 12-4, the home team got their offense back going with four unanswered goals of their own, two each by MacMahon and Helen Hamblett.
“ We have some girls that can score,” NYA coach Molly Climo said. “Number 17 (MacMahon) is our leading scorer and they did well to shut her down today.”
After NYA received a yellow card, the Panthers played a player down the final nine minutes of the game.
Dostie scored her fourth goal of the half after another draw control win by Freeport.
Junior Margaret Perrotta took the ball down the field and in behind the net, where she passed it back in front to the senior for the score, making it 13-8 with less than eight minutes to play.
“I’ve played with these girls for a long time,” Perotta said. “We have a feel for where each other is and where to pass it.”
Freeport was too much for the short-handed Panthers, scoring the final five goals against a tired defense. Davidson and Rinaldi each registered two more goals and Allison Greuel added a late score for the 18-8 final.
Dostie and Rinaldi finished with five goals each, while Davidson had four. Perrotta had two goals and three assists. Davidson also had three assists in the win. Sherbert (sevens saves) and Cameron Pasquale (two) split the game in net.
Freeport finished with 33 shots to NYA’s 22, while taking the draw controls 18-10.
Helen Hamblett tallied three goals while adding two assists. MacMahon also netted three goals in the loss. Davis had nine saves for the Panthers (2-3).
“It’s unfortunate we had to play a man down at the end of the game,” Climo said. “I was hoping for more like a game we had in the first half as it seemed it was heading that way.”
Freeport (3-2) hosts Oceanside this Friday at 6 p.m. and then Greely, May 16.
“We have some tough games coming up so it was nice to get the offense going today,” Wood said. “We’ll see how we can fare with our upcoming games.”
Freeport 18, NYA 8
At Yarmouth
| Freeport | — 7 | 11 | — | 18 | |
| NYA | — | 4 | 4 | — | 8 |
Goals — (F) Taylor Dostie 5, Taylor
Rinaldi 5, Chloe Davidson 4, Margaret
Perotta 2, Emma Carter, Allison
Greuel; (NYA) Helen Hamblett 3, Bella
MacMahon 3, Tessa Quattrucci, Lincoln Hamblett.
Assists — (F) Margaret Perotta 3,
Chloe Davidson 3, Taylor Rinaldi 2,
Molly Whelan, Paige Rinaldi; (NYA)
Helen Hamblett 2, Natalie Farrell,
Amber Rose.
Shots — Freeport 33, NYA 22.
Saves — (F) Piper Sherbert 7,
Cameron Pasquale 2; (NYA) Maya
Davis 9.
Draw controls — Freeport 18, NYA
10.
Man-up opportunities — Freeport 1-
for-2.
Records — Freeport 3-2, NYA 2-4.
Up next for the Falcons — Friday at
home vs. Oceanside, 6 p.m.
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