BATH — Morse broke open a one-goal game with three second-half tallies to pull away for a 4-1 victory in a cross-over high school field hockey game against Maranacook on Monday.

Vanessa St. Pierre had three goals for Morse (3-0-0). Maranacook falls to 0-4.

Morse took the opening faceoff and immediately drove the ball into its own territory, where the teams played the majority of the first 10 minutes of the contest.

St. Pierre got the game’s first score at 19:54 when teamwork around the cage put the ball deep into the circle where she blasted it to the right of Maranacook goalie Alyssa Pratt for the score.

“We have a young team this year and I think it’s really cool how the team has merged together,” St. Pierre commented on how the team is finding its flow.

Morse continued to possess the ball in the first half, putting pressure on the Maranacook defense, earning four penalty corners, but only getting two shots on goal in the first 30 minutes.

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“We weren’t penetrating for some reason,” Morse coach Kerri Reno said. “We kept going wide, especially on our left. Our right side however, kept pushing the ball into the middle too soon.”

The score remained 1-0 into the halftime break. Each team only managed two shots apiece in the opening half.

The second frame opened with more of the same pressure put on by the Shipbuilders. Five minutes in, Morse received a penalty corner and attempted a shot to the net, but Maranacook’s Emma Wadsworth was there on defense to swat the ball away.

“We’re still a new team and we’re focusing on our defense a lot,” Maranacook coach Ashley Work said. “I think our defense is pretty solid.”

Haylee Weeks and Brooke Stratton also contributed to the Black Bear defense keeping Morse off the board.

That changed moments later, when freshman Addie Jung picked up the ball in front of the net and pushed it across for the score.

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Five minutes later, St. Pierre scored again. It was clear Morse came out in the second half a little more determined.

“We talked at halftime and they listened well,” Reno said. “They realized they needed to reevaluate a little since we’ve had a couple of games where we had three or four goals at the half and today only one.”

Meanwhile, Maranacook continued to show a little more life in the second half. Trailing 3-0, Maranacook’s Abygil Jacques received the ball in front of the net. Before she was able to shoot the ball, Morse keeper Rebecca Click came out of the cage and challenged Jacques. The two had a standoff before the whistle blew, giving Morse a free hit.

“We got a little more motivation at the half,” Work said. “They are good at motivating themselves, I just tell them what I want them to improve on. We’re going to work on improving to attack the goal more.”


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