FAIRFIELD — Even before a girls lacrosse program arrived at Mt. Blue High School, girls in the school district with an affinity for the sport weren’t about to be sidelined.
Up until last year, the Mt. Blue Regional School District had neither a feeder program nor any teams at the high school level. Players on the current varsity team, which claimed an 8-6 win over Lawrence in Wednesday’s Class B preliminary round, had to play an entirely different form of the sport.
“We didn’t have a lot of options for girls lacrosse, so a lot of us crossed over and played boys lacrosse,” said Mt. Blue sophomore Chloe Roberts. “A lot of us on this team came over from boys lacrosse teams. … We wanted to play, and that’s what we had.”
It’s a dedication that’s powered Mt. Blue to success very quickly in its young existence. On Wednesday, it paid off as the Cougars broke through in the second half to give the program its most monumental win yet.
Mt. Blue got a pair of late goals from Roberts to seal the victory, the program’s first in the postseason. The Cougars patiently controlled the ball in the Bulldogs’ half of the field to overcome three early goals from the home team.
After No. 7 Lawrence (7-5) got a Sage Brown goal just 39 seconds into the game, the Bulldogs doubled their lead at 21:40 as Mt. Blue goaltender Michelle Seaberg inadvertently flung the ball into the back of her own net on a restart. Chloe Roberts then scored for the Cougars at 19:25 before Amy Boyce responded for Lawrence at 17:07.
“We were rushing early on, not taking care of the ball and weren’t making the cuts they needed to make,” Mt. Blue co-coach Liz LeClair said. “We do our best when we’re able to settle down, do what we need to and play our game, and we knew we needed to do that to turn it around.”
No. 10 Mt. Blue (9-4) would certainly settle in over the next 15 minutes as it controlled the ball at the Lawrence end, but the Cougars had nothing to show for it until Molly Kearing scored with 1:32 left in the half. The Bulldogs instantly restored their two-goal lead as Kaylyn Bourque scored the final goal of the half with 42.1 seconds left.
Mt. Blue’s Erin Parling, left, battles Lawrence defender Sage Brown in a Class B first-round game Wednesday in Fairfield. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Mt. Blue found its first consistent offensive breakthrough early in the second half with three goals in the first seven minutes of the period. The Cougars then went up 6-4 as Alissa Butterfield gave the team its fourth unanswered goal with 14:26 left to play.
“We’ve been in so many games this season where we’ve been down, pulled even and then doubled the score,” said Mt. Blue co-coach Kat Zachary. “They know what to do when they’re down more than they know what to do when they’re up sometimes; having a challenge is everything for them, and they really capitalize on it.”
Lawrence pulled back within one on a Chamberlain goal with 13:06 remaining and tied it with 7:55 left as Brown scored her second of the game. The Cougars retook the lead on a goal from Roberts with 3:20 left, and the sophomore would score one last time with 2:09 to go to seal it.
The win came in just the second playoff game for Mt. Blue, which received a humbling welcome to playoff lacrosse last year in the form of a 19-1 prelim loss to York. The Cougars, who, naturally, were a young team in their first season, entered 2022 a year more experienced and accustomed to the girls version of the game.
Mt. Blue’s Chloe Roberts center, drives the ball through Lawrence defenders Ali Higgins, left, and Sage Brown in a Class B first-round game Wednesday in Fairfield. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
“I think just the fact that we were all able to come over to girls lacrosse and succeed the way we did was great,” said Roberts, whose fellow ex-boys lacrosse players include Emma Dunn, Maya Hellett and Callie Towle. “It’s so different from boys lacrosse, but that shows how we wanted to stick with it and share the love of the sport.”
The win was the fourth in a row for Mt. Blue, which ended the regular season with victories over Lewiston, Oceanside and Bangor. Although no victory is small for a young program, winning in the playoffs against a Lawrence team that presented a much stiffer challenge — the Bulldogs beat the Cougars 10-3 in the regular season opener — is the most satisfying feeling yet.
“They work so well together and are so passionate about this team as well as this sport,” LeClair said. “The improvement this season alone has been remarkable, let alone compared to last season. They’ve worked so hard to be able to get to this point, and they earned it.”
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