WATERVILLE — Whatever early-season rust the Cony High School boys lacrosse team had was knocked off at halftime. Ahead of Oxford Hills by two goals at the break, the Rams offense came together in the second half, and Cony pulled away for a 9-2 season-opening win Thursday at Thomas College.
“I thought as the game went on, we started to move the ball a little better. I thought we were doing a little too much individually to start, and once we got moving, we started to play a little better. We got some more opportunities,” Cony coach Chad Foye said. “I’m happy with how the kids played today.”
Ahead 3-1 at the half, Cony began to pull away early in the third quarter. Joel Bennett’s goal with 10 minutes, 18 seconds left in the third started the Rams’ second-half scoring. Fifty seconds later, Chad Bickford scored with the Vikings a man down to push Cony’s lead to 5-1.
“We were passing the ball fluently, getting those open shots,” said Bickford, who scored four goals and two assists, all in the second half.
With Cony ahead 6-2 going in to the fourth quarter, Dale Lapierre scored his third goal of the game with 10:54 left. Bickford added two more goals for the final margin of victory.
The Rams took an early lead when Lapierre scored, on an assist from Cody Lamarre, with 8:18 left in the first quarter. Lapierre’s shot from the middle went to the upper right corner of the net, and with 39.7 seconds left in the first, Lapierre found almost the exact same spot for a 2-0 Cony lead.
Bennett’s goal with 10:44 left in the second quarter gave Cony a 3-0 lead. Oxford Hills got on the board with Kelton Loper’s goal with 4:40 to play in the first half. Ian Lejonhud scored a third-quarter goal for the Vikings, but Cony freshman goalie Cam Gallant was strong in his varsity debut. Gallant made 11 stops for the win.
“(Gallant) did a great job today. He’s got quite a bit of experience playing lacrosse, and he’s pretty composed back there,” Foye said.
Bennett had two goals for Cony.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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