GARDINER — The Cony girls lacrosse team played a strong defensive game Thursday afternoon at Hoch Field, limiting Gardiner to just seven shots in a 15-2 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference win.

Cony (9-2) took an 8-0 lead at halftime with five different players scoring against an undermanned Gardiner (1-10) team that played without starters Ally Day and Caitlin Ham, who are both sidelined with injuries.

“This is what we expected,” Gardiner coach Andy Haskell said. “We are without a couple of key players. We have little room for error. We have lost two integral players and it becomes tough to match up with a good team like Cony.”

Playing their third game in three days, the Rams went to work early hoping to put the game away before fatigue set in. The game plan worked with Cony pinning Gardiner in its own end of the field for most of the half.

On Tuesday, Cony hosted Messalonskee in a game that was called at halftime after heavy rains made the field unplayable. The game started from scratch on Wednesday and Cony beat Messalonskee 12-11.

“We did a great job redefending after we lost the ball,” Cony coach Gretchen Livingston said. “We had to show up to play today and we played really well.”

Bayleigh Logan went inside, lifting a shot over the head of Gardiner goalkeeper Madison Cutler to give the Rams a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Logan found Mia Diplock open in front of the net to give Cony a 2-0 advantage at 17:17.

“We did some nice things at both ends of the field,” Livingston said. “We did what we needed to do and our girls worked really hard, especially on defense early in the game.”

Cony’s back line of defenders, Erika Burns, Josie Lee, Michelle Bolduc and goalkeeper Katrina Duncan were impressive, forcing numerous turnovers while kickstarting the Rams’ transition game.

Duncan made one save in the first half and finished with four to earn the win. Cutler made 12 saves on 32 shots.

Cony continued to fire away on the offensive end with Kevie Rodrigue, Heather Leet and Emily Quirion scoring a goal each as the Rams pushed their lead to 5-0 with 11:52 left in the half.

Diplock finished with four goals while taking just five shots. Diplock’s second goal of the game gave Cony a 6-0 lead with 9:44 remaining in the first half. Quirion added three goals and an assist for the Rams.

Gardiner’s Brooke Curtis scored a goal for the Tigers with 13:35 remaining in the game. Paige Pillsbury also scored for the Tigers.

Messalonskee 17, Morse 8: Sarah Grenier had four goals and an assist and Sidney Gagne had four goals as the Eagles beat the Shipbuilders in Oakland.

Kristy Bernatchez added three goals and an assist for Messalonskee (6-5). Allison Fischang added a goal and two assists, while Sam Briggs had a goal and an assist, Haley Pelletier a goal and Kristen Kern an assist. Izzy Skinner made 12 saves to earn the win.

Sadia Crosby had three goals and Christina Stewart two for Morse (3-8).

Boys lacrosse

Oak Hill 13, Morse 12: Kyle Flaherty scored the game-winning goal with 49 seconds left as the Raiders beat the Shipbuilders in a KVAC B game Wednesday.

Trevor Samson had three goals and an assist, while Caleb Provost and Jon Averill each added three goals for Oak Hill (7-3). Flaherty scored twice and Matty Martin earned the win with 16 saves.

Alex Paulus had four goals and an assist for Morse (5-6).