Lady Falcons dominate LA, 17-4

RUMFORD -- It was time to change things up, so made the proper adjustments and was able to better handle the situation.

Ayla Allen scored a game-high eight goals and the Mountain Valley girls' lacrosse team followed through en route to a 17-4 triumph against Lincoln Academy in the Hosmer Complex. It completed a season sweep because MV won 16-10 in Newcastle.

The game was played in intense heat, so the officials had the action halted for mandatory water breaks. MV athletic director John Bernard, who is retiring, supervised his final home.

Mountain Valley (4-7) had started slow, but regrouped and scored eight unanswered goals to take an insurmountable 10-3 lead at halftime.

“We needed to pass more,” said Tia White, who had two goals and four assists. “The ball had been getting into the (offensive) zone, but we were not looking around for other teammates. Our ability to get balanced scoring from others has really helped.”

Mountain Valley trailed by one goal when Allen proceeded to slice and dice her way through the Eagles defense and scored, Chelsea Boudeau (three goals) put the Falcons in front to stay and Allen (two assists) scored by bouncing the ball off the turf, past Eagle goalie Katie Riley (27 saves).

“Once we looked for the cutter going through, it really opened things up for us,” said Nicole Lavorgna, who was honored along with White as the only two seniors on the team.

Falcon goalie Jordan True (six saves) made a big stop from point blank range.

In the second half, the Falcons would score seven unanswered goals, including Elizabeth Glover, Lavorgna, Whitney Ruff, Emily Gallant and Katie Puiia.

“The girls really did some good things today,” said MV coach Rick White. “They were looking up the field and not just depending on one person, so more people became involved. I thought our midfield play (Zaraya Simard) was huge. The defense (Abby Day, Makayla White and Rebecca Maifeld) rotating over really limited the Eagles offense.”

The Eagles led 3-2 but was shut out after that until Katrina Bell beat goalie Ari Glover (four saves), with 3:24 remaining in the game.