Boys Lacrosse: Rams charge past Falcons

Gorham’s Colin Harvey notched nine goals in the rain Saturday morning, leading his team over Freeport 15-6.

The home win, played at USM’s Hannaford Field, nudges Gorham to 6-1. The Rams hover in A West’s third slot, behind South Portland and Thornton, and just ahead of Scarborough. Freeport’s loss drops them to 5-3 on the season. The team is having its best year in recent memory, and sits in B East’s fourth place, behind Morse but ahead of Gardiner.

“We were confident; we’ve had a decent season so far,” said Gorham head coach Dan Soule. “We’ve been successful on offense and we’re very young on defense. It’s a learning process, and our defense is doing a good job, but they’re still in the process of getting acclimated to the program.”

The Rams sprang to an early lead, dumping home five goals in the first and four more in the second. The Falcons couldn’t keep pace, tallying just three total in the half. 9-3 Gorham at the break: For the Falcons to stand a chance – for them to stage a comeback – they would need to up the ante on every aspect of their play.

When Harvey put a blistering shot past Freeport keeper Zac Wogan from the top of the zone just 48 seconds into the third, Gorham appeared still firmly in control. But the Falcons’ Connor Dostie answered a mere 12 seconds later, scoring in close for 10-4. Less than a minute and a half later, Zach Owen zigged the ball to Dostie, who zagged it back across the front of the net, to Sam Wogan, who scored to put Freeport within five.

Twenty seconds later, the Falcons went man-up. Having scored two in quick succession, they appeared poised to take advantage of the opportunity. The Rams, however, had something to say about that. Just another 20 seconds elapsed before they scored shorthanded, Matt Esposito feeding Cam Wright up the middle and Wright notching the point.

The Rams scored again three minutes later, following a Freeport offsides turnover. Another minute on, Frank Pappalardo dished to Harvey, lingering on the right. Harvey scored for 13-5 and shortly after that, scored again, an almost identical goal on an assist by Susi.

Freeport couldn’t keep up. With seven minutes remaining in the game, Sam Wogan flipped a pass forward to Brady Lafrance, which Lafrance caught and immediately whirled into a successful shot. But the Falcons still trailed by eight, 14-6, and Gorham would silence them for the rest of play while adding one more of their own.

Sam Wogan earned five of his team’s six; Zac Wogan looked sharp in-net, as usual, making numerous spectacular saves to keep Gorham from pulling still further ahead. “Colin is a very good player, Abraham is a very good player, and [Wogan] was able to stuff those guys a couple times. Even when [Freeport] was down, he did a very nice job for them.”

In addition to complimenting both Harvey and Eaton, Soule stressed Susi’s contributions as well, especially his consistency on face-offs. “I don’t know what the numbers are, but I assume he was probably 80-85 percent, if not more. He did a very nice job.” Soule went on to praise Wright on the attack.

Wright, Eaton and Susi each added two goals and two assists for the Rams.

“First half, we played those 24 minutes at our absolute best,” Soule said. “We let off a little bit – I was able to cycle some of the JV guys in – for that second half. But keeping the focus for 48 minutes is always our goal. If we can do that, we’re going to be able to compete, later in the season.”

The Rams follow-up with a home battle against No. 5 Westbrook (Tuesday, May 20, 4 p.m.) and a road bout at A East’s ninth-ranked Windham (Friday, May 23, 5:45 p.m.). The Falcons, meanwhile, host York on the 20th and travel to Greely on the 23rd (both games are 4 o’clockers.)

Freeport’s Sam Wogan launches into Gorham’s Mike Susi on Susi’s way upfield.Falcons Jake Perry (left) and Connor Dostie (right) converge on Abraham Eaton of Gorham.Falcon Noah Butler locks eyes on the action as he moves upfield at USM Saturday morning.Sam Wogan dashes after the ball at USM Saturday morning; Gorham’s (right) approaches from behind, while teammate Matt Anderson (35) throws up a check.