GARDINER — The Gardiner field hockey team got the test it wanted and then some when it took on Lawrence at Somerville Field on Thursday afternoon.
After a scoreless first half, the visiting Bulldogs took it to the Tigers for the first 15 minutes of the second half, reeling off five penalty corners and causing Gardiner coach Sharon Gallant to call a timeout.
The message was simple. How badly do you want this game?
The Tigers responded with some spirited play, beginning with Jillian Bisson, who hustled back and stopped Nora Buck after she appeared to have a clean breakaway.
“We said, ‘If we’re going to win this game, we’re going to have to beat them to the ball,’ ” Gallant said of her motivational timeout.
Senior Sarah Faust eventually scored the game-winner following a penalty corer with 3:09 left to play, giving Gardiner a hard-fought 1-0 victory.
With the win the Tigers remained undefeated in Class B North play at 8-0 while Lawrence falls to 6-2.
Madelin Walker entered the ball to Aimee Adams on the winning penalty corner and Adams passed the ball to Maggie Bell whose shot went wide of Lawrence goalie Marian Zawistowski (nine saves). Faust was there to redirect the ball into the opposite corner of the cage.
“We’ve been working going to the ball,” Faust said. “So I went to the ball and shot for the corner, which is the result of what we’ve been working on.”
Zawistowski leaped to make a save on a deflected shot from Faust a minute later to keep the score at 1-0 but the Bulldogs weren’t able to mount a threat over the final two minutes.
“It feel great,” Faust said of the win. “We’re all very excited.”
Lawrence was coming off a loss on Saturday to Winslow and a sub-par performance in Tuesday’s win over Brewer. The Bulldogs were able to put that behind them and play one of their better games of the season.
“Gardiner hadn’t been tested all year long,” coach Shawna Robinson said. “I hope we at least gave them a test today. I’m not unhappy. I think we played so much better in the second half. Again, we’ve got to learn to finish.”
The first half was a stalemate with most of the action taking place at midfield. Both defenses played well, led by their outstanding center mids, Adams for Gardiner and Lexi Lewis for Lawrence. The Tigers finished with three shots on goal over the first 30 minutes while the Bulldogs had one. Penalty corners were 3-2 in Gardiner’s favor.
Play opened up a bit more in the second half as the Bulldogs swarmed around Gardiner goalie Alyssa Gould (three saves). But the defense either kept the ball away or the Bulldogs fanned on some good scoring chances. Overall, the Bulldogs attempted nine penalty corners to Gardiner’s seven but the Tigers put more shots on goal, 10-4.
“Their goalie made some saves today, Holy Lord,” Gallant said. “I’m pretty happy with how well we responded, I thought we played a lot better in the first half than we did in the second half.”
Faust played a solid all-around game and nearly scored two more times.
“She’s not very big,” Gallant said, “but she knows where to be.”
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