AUGUSTA — Lawrence has been playing like one of the top field hockey teams in Eastern A for a few years now. But one thing was missing: a win over Cony.

Cony beat Lawrence last year on a goal right at (or after) the buzzer and defeated the Bulldogs two years ago when Jess Brox set a school record with five defensive saves. This time, with a chance to clinch a top-three spot in the playoffs, the Bulldogs made sure they came away with the win.
Lawrence got it on a beautiful goal by Caitlin Koller and by shutting down Cony’s offense in the second half for a 1-0 victory Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s like beating your arch-nemesis,” Lawrence junior forward Bethany Rioux said. “We’re always really neck-and-neck with Cony, so it feels awesome to finally come out with a win.”

Cony also defeated Lawrence, 3-0, in Fairfield earlier this season, but Tuesday’s win — Lawrence’s first over Cony since 2004 — means the Bulldogs (9-4-1) clinched the No. 3 spot in the Eastern A playoffs and likely will host Edward Little in a quarterfinal on Tuesday. Cony finishes at 7-6-1 and probably will go in at No. 5 and play at Brewer in a first-round game next Wednesday.

“I think we just came out more intense and really wanted to win to get (that) third spot,” Koller said.
Cony had a few more chances in the first half, but Lawrence had the best of it after the break. The Bulldogs scored with 18:03 left in the half when Koller scored after three nice passes.

Kaprice Dahms had the ball, got past her defender and sent a pass to Rioux, who lost her balance at exactly that moment. As Rioux was off balance, she moved her stick so she could guide the ball to her right and up ahead to Danielle Spaulding.

“Kaprice was going up the side, and she passed it to me,” Rioux said. “I was trying to receive it, and I just kind of fell. I was like, ‘Thank God my stick hit it instead of my foot, or we would have lost the ball.’ ”
Spaulding gathered the ball and, while on the run, whacked a nice pass in front of the cage to Koller, who knocked the ball in for the goal.

Spaulding had another nice play on which she lost a few defenders and then was robbed of a goal on a nice save by Cony goalie Kevie Rodrigue. The Rams had only one penalty corner in the second half, and Lawrence had five.

“I been saying for a few games (that) I’d like to have a more sustained attack, and I saw it today,” Lawrence coach Lisa Larrabee said. “We actually had shots. We had rebounds. We kept the play in the circle and inside the 25.”

The Rams have 11 seniors and might have been able to get a home playoff game with a win. Now, Cony must take some of Tuesday’s lessons and use them in the playoffs.

“Today, I thought that there were moments where we cut to the ball well, other moments where we let them beat us. We’ve got to win those 50/50 balls,” Cony coach Holly Daigle said. “Our transition game needs to be better and faster. When they got some breakaways, or they got some big hits, they got the ball down to their offensive circle really quickly. So we’ve got to tighten that up, for sure.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

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