FAIRFIELD — Lawrence was certainly the favorite on Tuesday afternoon, especially after defeating quarterfinal opponent Edward Little by six goals during the regular season.
But as the game progressed, the question wasn’t how much Lawrence would win by, but whether Edward Little goalie Danica Nadeau would find a way to keep the Bulldogs from winning at all.
Nadeau kept Lawrence off the scoreboard for more than 36 minutes, and almost single-handedly had the game tied with 15 minutes to go in the second half. But the Bulldogs never let up with their offensive pressure, and Lauren Watson’s three goals led the way to a 3-1 victory.
“We couldn’t get anything by her,” Lawrence coach Shawna Robinson said. “She played a heckuva game.”
No. 2 Lawrence now hosts third-seeded Messalonskee in an Eastern A semifinal scheduled for Tuesday. Both teams are 13-2, and Lawrence defeated the Eagles by one goal in both meetings this season.
The Lawrence-Edward Little and Messalonskee-Oxford Hills games began at about the same time, but while Messalonskee scored twice in the first seven minutes on the way to a 6-0 victory, Lawrence was continually stymied by Nadeau. While the Bulldogs had a 39-8 advantage in shots, Nadeau came up with 27 saves, many of them while she was on her knees, her stomach, or her side.
With about 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half, Nadeau dove to make an amazing save on a shot by Hallee Parlin, then, while still on the ground, reached up and batted another shot away. Despite Lawrence’s control of the flow, it was a 0-0 game at halftime.
“I was definitely getting frustrated, wondering why the ball wouldn’t go in,” Watson said. “We were trying drilling it. We were lifting it up over her. We just couldn’t get it in. It just wasn’t going our way.”
“We needed to pick up the intensity,” Robinson said, “and I think, definitely, as soon as the second half started, they were different kids out there.”
With 23:21 left in the second half, Watson used a little deception to finally beat Nadeau. From the left side, Nadeau faked a shot, which got Nadeau to her knees. Watson them calmly dribbled around her and crossed the ball inside the right post for a 1-0 lead.
But barely six minutes later, Brooke Lever got open in the middle of the circle, and found Victoria Beliveau on the left post. Beliveau’s redirection tied the game at 1.
The tie lasted less than four minutes, as Watson scored again with 13:47 to go in the game. She added the clincher with 8:40 to go. Dominique Lewis assisted on Watson’s first and third goals, but Watson also gave an assist to her other teammates.
“Everybody on the team is like, ‘You gotta want it,'” Watson said. “And then some girls were saying, we didn’t think we wanted it enough. That was enough to put me over the edge to get ’em in the goal.”
Lawrence didn’t get another penalty corner after Watson’s third goal, but the Bulldogs didn’t need one. After ending the regular season with a 4-3 loss to Cony, and fighting to a 0-0 tie against Gardiner in the KVAC runner-up game, Lawrence spent the second half playing like they did the first 13 games of the season.
“That was the team that I like,” Robinson said. “We went back to basics and passing the ball.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
Send questions/comments to the editors.
