WATERVILLE — The biggest scare the top-seeded Messalonskee High School girls lacrosse team received Wednesday afternoon in its Class A North quarterfinal against No. 8 Cheverus came 2:47 into the game.

Senior captain India Languet rolled along the crease from left to right and fired a shot from 15 feet away past Stags goalkeeper Abby Cavallaro, but in the process also tweaked her left ankle and proceeded to limp off the field.

As it would turn out, Languet would be just fine — and so were the Eagles.

Sophomore Ally Turner had a game-high four goals to give her 58 on the season and added an assist as Messalonskee defeated Cheverus 13-4 at Thomas College’s Smith Field. The Eagles will next face No. 5 Mt. Ararat in the regional semifinals Saturday.

“We went into it just like any other game, just don’t take any team for granted,” said Languet, who finished with two goals and two assists. “This is a playoff game, every game is important, you’ve got to go in knowing that it starts off 0-0 and you have to play with intention.”

Lauren Pickett added three goals for Messalonskee (12-1) and Lydia Dexter scored twice. Turner also had seven draw controls as the Eagles possessed 13 of the game’s 19 faceoffs with Turner and Dexter taking the bulk of them.

“Winning the draw is so key because possessing the ball is so important,” Messalonskee coach Ashley Pullen said. “Ally and Lydia are great players in their own right but it’s such a valuable piece that each of them bring to the table when they can win draws for us.”

It was just 56 seconds after Languet’s goal when Turner made it 2-0 Eagles, but Cheverus responded with a score from Allie Scott to cut the deficit in half with 17:14 remaining until intermission.

From there, though, it was all Eagles as they scored six straight to take a commanding 8-1 advantage. The stretch included two each from Dexter and Pickett, another from Turner and one from Nathalie St. Pierre — the 101st of her career.

Messalonskee ultimately led 9-2 at the break thanks in large part to its efficiency on free-position shots, where they converted 5 of 6 opportunities into goals.

“(It was) huge. Interestingly, it was something that we have not worked on lately,” Pullen said. “It was on the practice plan for (Tuesday) but then I had so many girls that didn’t feel well that we had to cut practice short and that got the ax.

“It’s good to know that even if it’s not something that we’re practicing on a regular basis that we can execute.”

Cheverus got goals from Emily Duff and Mackenzie Johnston in the first 3:21 of the second half to pull within 9-4 but that was as much as the Stags would cut into the Eagles’ lead.

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley

Related Stories