WATERVILLE — With eight seconds left, Mt. Ararat’s Sierra Gilley suddenly grabbed the ball at midfield and went racing down the right side of the field. The only thing between her and overtime was Messalonskee sophomore goalie Sydni Collier.
“It’s obviously frightening when one of their best players is coming in one-on-one with the keeper,” Collier said. “But this is what we practice. This is what coach had me prepared for all season. I just cut off her angle.”
Collier made the save and time ran out with Gilley desperately trying to regain control behind the net. Messalonskee survived with a 9-8 victory over No. 7 Mt. Ararat in an Eastern A girls lacrosse quarterfinal game on Wednesday afternoon at Thomas College.
With the win, No. 2 Messalonskee (10-3) advances to the semifinals against No. 3 Cony (10-3). Messalonskee’s boys lacrosse team also won Wednesday, so on Friday, the boys will play Cheverus at 4 p.m. and the girls will play at 6:30, with both games at Thomas College. If rain wipes that out, there will be a girls-boys doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m., Saturday at Thomas College.
Including the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championship game, this was Messalonskee’s fifth one-goal game of the season. That made this one a little easier for coach Ashley Pullen and her players (well, for the players anyway).
“It’s definitely not easy for me,” Pullen said. “It’s easier for them in the sense that they have the confidence, and they’ve been there before, and they know they can win close games. So I think that’s huge in a situation like that.”
While Messalonskee controlled the first five minutes and led 2-0 on goals by India Languet and Sydney Gagne, the rest of the game was even. Nathalie St. Pierre scored to give Messalonskee a 4-2 lead with 13:57 left in the first half, and that was the last time all game that either team led by more than a goal. With Collier and Mt. Ararat goalie Bailey Sullivan both playing well, neither team could go on a run.
But Mt. Ararat (6-7) had the closest thing to a run, scoring three of the next four goals, including two by Carly Raymond, to lead 6-5 early in the second half. With about 19 minutes left in the game, Mt. Ararat passed the ball around the perimeter on offense for two minutes.
“I remember distinctly looking at the clock and thinking, ‘They’re only up one goal. It takes five seconds to score a goal in lacrosse. You wait for them to make a mistake,'” Pullen said. “They were looking to pull us out, and beat us 1-v-1, and I wasn’t going to give them that.”
“You have to keep your eyes on the ball and watch cutters,” Collier said. “You just can’t get distracted, no matter how long it’s going on.”
Messalonskee finally stole the ball, which led to Kristen Kern’s game-tying goal. Mt. Ararat’s Rebecca Schuman and Messalonskee’s Mikayla Turner traded goals, and then Turner scored again off a pass from Kern to put Messalonskee up 8-7 with 10:14 left.
Gilley scored for Mt. Ararat — her fourth goal of the game — and it was tied for the fourth time in the second half. With 6:59 to play, Turner sent in a low bullet on a free position shot, putting Messalonskee ahead, 9-8.
“I had actually missed most of my free positions before that point,” Turner said. “I had been going to a certain spot the whole time, and I changed up and went to the other side.”
Mt. Ararat tried to hold the ball, but threw it away. After a few possession changes, Messalonskee took control with 1:49 to go. With Turner, Kern, Languet, Sydney Gagne and Ally Fischang doing most of the passing, Messalonskee kept the ball until Kern’s close-range shot was saved with 20 seconds remaining.
“We have practiced that very regularly since the first game of the season, when we didn’t do it against Cony (in a one-goal loss),” Pullen said. “It’s something that we know we have to be able to do to win games like this.”
Collier’s final save clinched the win, and set up a very anticipated rematch between Cony and Messalonskee in the semifinals. Cony won the first meeting 11-10, and Messalonskee won the rematch 12-10 before winning the KVAC game 16-15.
“It’s going to be close,” Pullen said. “In a game that’s as evenly matched as us and Cony, it’s going to come down to the team that does the little things right — the team that plays smart, the team that wins draws and ground balls, is really scrappy, and the team that plays clean.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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