BRUNSWICK — For the first time in 14 years, the Brunswick girls lacrosse team is headed to the state final.
The second-seeded Dragons scored three goals in a 65-second span late in the second half to pull away from No. 3 Cony, 12-7, in a Class B state semifinal Tuesday afternoon at Brunswick High School. Junior attack Cecelia Slocum had led the Dragons (16-2) with three goals and three assists.
Brunswick will meet either No. 1 Greely or No. 4 Messalonskee in Friday night’s state final at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The Dragons, who won consecutive Class A state titles when combined with Kennebunk in 2008 and 2009, haven’t advanced this far in a season as a standalone program since they were the state runner-up in 2003.
“We set out here with one goal for the week,” said Brunswick coach EmaLeigh Aschbrenner. “The goal was Fitzpatrick. Friday Fitzpatrick. The girls stayed focused and still remained to just play together and support each other through and through. They really played to the best of their abilities.”
“It’s really exciting,” Slocum said. “This year, we’ve really exceeded what we’d gotten to in the past. I’m really happy for our team — but I’m also sad because our seniors are leaving. But this has been a lot of fun.”
Cony, which finished with its best record in school history at 13-3, was bounced in the Class B semifinals for the second straight year.
“We were happy to be able to come back here,” Cony coach Gretchen Livingston said. “Take away that two-minute period (in the second half) and we were a lot closer. Until (that), it still could have been anybody’s game.”
Brunswick took a 6-3 lead into the intermission after Emily Wallace (two goals) raced nearly end-to-end for a goal with 4.8 seconds remaining in the first half.
Cony battled to stay in contention at 8-5 when Azabell Asaaf finished off her hat trick with 13:23 remaining in regulation.
After some sloppy play on both sides, the Dragons had a break developing into the offensive end when Aschbrenner unexpectedly called timeout.
Whatever she words she had for her charges were the right ones, as Brunswick scored the first of three goals in in 1:05 only 17 seconds after play resumed en route to a commanding 11-5 advantage with under 7:30 left.
“We came out too hot, rushed things a little bit,” Aschbrenner said. “I know people are going to think it’s weird calling timeout on a drive like that, but I know my girls and they know me. We knew in that time, that drive was not what we needed — it showed because after we did that we had three or four goals right in a row.”
Six different players recorded goals in the win, with Slocum accounting for a goal and an assist in the key stretch for the Dragons.
“We can all rely on each other,” Slocum said. “We all know that everybody can do everything, so we always have options, which is nice. It’s not just one player who is going to get the goals every game. It’s better to have more people to rely on.”
“We needed to hold them better defensively, and we just had those breakdowns where they were able to get easy 1-on-1 goals,” said Cony coach Gretchen Livingston. “You cannot have any breakdowns in a semifinal game. That little window of three goals was huge.”
Brunswick goalie Maddie Barnhorst made 10 saves to earn the win between the pipes, including seven in the second half and one on Cony’s Dinah Wadleigh’s free-position try in the final minutes.
Cony’s Madison Chavarie finished with eight saves, while Abby Morrill had a pair of goals.
For Brunswick, Ella Gustafson recorded a two goals, and Kelsie Carlton and Hannah Lay each added a goal and an assist.
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