WATERBORO — Massabesic held Thornton Academy’s prolific offense scoreless for 36 minutes Wednesday, but the Golden Trojans overcame a the Mustangs’ defensive effort as it came from behind to stay undefeated with a 3-1 win.
Despite the loss, Massabesic coach Pierce Cole said he was happy with the way the Mustangs played.
“I think we did a lot of things well. Our defense was on, our keeper was on,” Cole said. “One of our key things was our players fought for every 50/50 ball.”
Massabesic scored first on a penalty kick by Hannah Sleight with 22 minutes to go in the first half. It was the first time Thornton Academy had been down this year.
“I hate taking PKs,” said Sleight. “I was terrified, but I saw the goalie was to one side so recognized that the other side is what she was jumping to. I usually go to that side, but I changed my mind and went the other way.”
Thornton constantly drove the ball deep into Massabesic’s territory, but the Mustangs cleared the ball out of the circle. The Golden Trojans finally scored with 4:02 to go in the half. Alyssa Gilbert converted a corner kick that hung around in front of the net bouncing off several players before she banged it in to tie the game at 1-1.
In the second half, Thornton stretched the field causing more holes in the Mustang defense. Tori Daigle scored 10 minutes into the half.
“I was glad my team was there to help me,” said Daigle. “I was just there to score.”
The last goal of the night came from Amanda Arnold, with a little more than five minutes left in the game. Arnold took the ball from a defender and kicked it in the net for the insurance goal.
Both goalkeepers were busy in net. Emily Richard of Thornton had nine saves on 10 shots on goal. Gemma Lundrigan for Massabesic had 13 saves on 16 shots on goal.
“We worked together as a team, and we didn’t get rattled,” said Thornton coach Chris Kohl. “We could have gotten down after 1-nothing, and packed it up and decided to go home, but we kept our composure and worked for each other and as a team.”
Thornton is 4-0 and will play at home against McAuley on Friday. Massabesic is 1-3 and will travel to Kennebunk on Friday.
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