BIDDEFORD — Thornton Academy showed flashes of the team that won five games entering Tuesday’s game against Biddeford. But the Trojans also showed the same issues that have caused them to lose three times. They showed more of the former against the rival Tigers, scoring 11 unanswered goals in the first half and easing to a 13-3 victory at Waterhouse Field in an SMAA boys lacrosse game.
Thornton (6-3) won the opening draw, but an extended possession to start yielded no goals, and little action at the net.
When the Tigers finally took over possession they wasted little time with their first possession, as Cody Sevigny found Chipper Trottier 2:07 into the game to give Biddeford (3-3) a 1-0 lead.
“It’s always sweet. It’s nice to get the first goal,” said Biddeford head coach Sean Foley. “But then you saw how fast they came back.”
The Trojans finally began to get shots on net against Biddeford goalie Matt Stone, but Stone turned away the first few attempts.
Thornton then finally struck just under five minutes in, as Taylor Browne fed Zachary Bryant up top for a long shot past Stone.
“Matt looked good all day,” said Foley. “You just can’t stop everything.”
After Stone made a few more saves, the Trojans took the lead a few minutes later, and didn’t stop there. Justin Masteller scored 7:35 in, and Bryant and Cam Cadorette added goals over the next 1:20 to make it 4-1 Trojans.
“It’s the problem we’ve had all year: on for five minutes, off for five minutes, on for five minutes. It’s that inconsistency that really comes to bite you in the butt when you’ve got a good team,” said Thornton head coach Ryan Hersey. “We’re trying as hard as we can to be as consistent as possible through 48 minutes. But today, it seemed like five minutes on, five minutes off again.”
Bryant added another goal for a hat trick as Thornton led 5-1 after one quarter of play.
The second quarter was all Thornton, as the Trojans upped their lead to 11-1 at halftime thanks to five goals in a two-minute span, and another Bryant tally with 51 seconds left before intermission.
“It’s nice to see,” Hersey said of the goal-scoring flurry. “It’s something that we can do, we just need to have more prolonged periods of time of that consistency of play.”
The Tigers opened the second half the same way they opened the first ”“ with a goal ”“ but Trottier’s second of the game was all Biddeford could muster in the period.
Bryant scored twice more 1:19 apart to cap off his game-high seven goal effort.
“I’m really proud of him,” Hersey said of Bryant. “We’ve asked him to work on a few things ”“ shooting overhand, bounce shots and quickening up his release. And he did it today, and low and behold, everything is going in for him. I’m happy that he’s working on what we’re asking him to do.”
Isaiah Bruce scored on a pass from Jacob LaFlamme three minutes into the fourth quarter to cap off the scoring.
“We’re 3-3 now. It’s a new season,” said Foley. “We’ve got some easier games coming up, I hope. Somehow this team could be 6-3 next week.
“We’ve got Lewiston Thursday, so that’s a long bus ride, and I think (the guys) are going to be looking for a little bit of payback. Hopefully we’ll work the ball around, bang the net a few times, and have a happy ride home. It’s a long way to go for a loss.”
Hersey said it was nice for his team to get a win on its rival’s turf, but also cautioned that they may see their rival again this season.
“(Against) Biddeford, it’s always nice to have a win,” said Hersey. “(But) this is a team that’s probably going to sneak into the playoffs here, and maybe somebody that we see again three weeks from now.”
— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.
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