SACO — The Thornton Academy field hockey team cruised to a 6-0 shutout win over visiting rival Biddeford Monday evening at Hill Stadium.

The Trojans took control early and never gave it up, scoring three goals in each half.

TA coach Lori Smith was happy with her team’s performance throughout the 60-minute battle.

“This is a big week for us and this is a good way to start it. I was really pleased with the way they played. Sometimes you can win by a few goals and not be happy, but tonight I had no complaints,” said Smith.

Biddeford came out strong in the opening minutes, pressuring the TA defense and controlling the tempo.

After 18 minutes of play, the Trojans finally broke through when Grace Decker scored on a penalty shot to give TA the 1-0 lead.

TA would add to its lead less than three minutes later when Catherine Henaire broke free from a scrum in front of the net and scored. Claire Decker would later score at the 1:52 mark to make the score 3-0 in favor of TA at the half.

Despite the slow start, Smith had faith that her team would break through.

“I was never worried because we played really well today. I really liked the way we playing and I knew it was just a matter of time. I was worried coming into this game, I definitely didn’t take (Biddeford) lightly,” said Smith.

The Trojans would continue to attack in the second, getting three more goals and securing the big win.

Taylor Oullette kicked things off with a goal at the 20:26 point, followed by another goal nine minutes later by Lily Stark. Olivia Lambert would tally TA’s final goal with just over five minutes in regulation.

Smith was excited to see her team get goals from six different players – two of which were freshman.

“I don’t think you can just mark one player on our team,” said Smith. “We’re pretty balanced all the way across … I’m really pleased about my young kids – I have four freshman and what I have been doing over the last few years is trying to develop them and have them ready to step in and they’re really coming along.”

The Trojans were also happy to earn a win against their rival.

“We’re definitely rivals. We played them this year in our summer league and it was like a playoff atmosphere. I knew that they really wanted to beat us this year and they have been getting better, it definitely makes the rivalry more competitive,” said Smith.

TA improves to 5-0-1 on the season, and Smith hopes her club will continue to perform like it did Monday.

“I thought for us we sometimes come out a little bit slow. We were really just focused on ourselves but sometimes you come out at the tempo of the game and we didn’t do that today. I was just really pleased with how the team played.”

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at sports@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.