Freeport's Gwen Dunham maintains control of the ball while under pressure from Reagan Dwelley of Maranacook/Winthrop during Thursday’s lacrosse game in Freeport. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

FREEPORT — There was no offseason rust for the Freeport girls lacrosse team to shake off on Thursday.

Freeport raced away to a 16-4 opening day victory over Maranacook/Winthrop thanks to an offensive outburst from senior midfielders Lana DiRusso and Mia Levesque, who combined for the game’s first eight goals and finished with 12 goals. 

“To have the quick start and have nothing against us, that was great,” Freeport head coach Marcia Wood said. “I knew Mia and Lana would be on fire and just kind of really excited for the season. Maranacook, I mean they went to (the Class C divisional final) last year, so I knew they were going to be challenging, I knew they were going to be aggressive, so I didn’t really know how we would adjust to that.”

The Black Bears, down three starters and two defenders, threw a high-pressure man-mark defense that DiRusso said shocked the Class B runners-up at first. But by halftime, the Falcons had it figured out.

Within the first seven minutes of the game, DiRusso (seven goals, one assist) and Levesque traded scores (five goals, one assist), and Freeport led by four. Within the next six minutes of gameplay extending into the second quarter, Freeport led 8-0.

“Both (Levesque and I), as well as a lot of other people on our team, see (shooting) lanes really well, and there were a lot of them,” DiRusso said. “I think just our lacrosse IQ was really on point today and I think that’s kind of how we got so many goals and how we were so successful on offense.”

Junior attacker Gwen Dunham (two goals, one assist), senior attacker Emma White (one goal, two assists) and sophomore midfielder Karleigh Costello (one goal) also scored for the Falcons. 

Maranacook/Winthrop coach Zach Stewart was proud of his team’s resilience and ability to turn up the intensity after falling down a large deficit. Sophomore attacker Stella Stewart, his daughter, cut the halftime score to 8-2 with two unassisted goals in traffic. 

“We fought all the way through,” Zach Stewart said. “I mean, going down 7-0 in the first four minutes is really tough to rebound from. And we said, you know, we could be up three goals, we could be down three goals, just keep playing…Freeport showed that they’re in midseason form. They have two all-American candidates returning, they only graduated a couple of seniors, they gave us a full serving. We’re a young team from north of the wall. I mean, I’m happy with what my girls did. They didn’t give up, they didn’t get snippy, they played awesome.”

Levesque said the Black Bear’s second quarter surge helped push the Falcons forward in the second half.”

“Their intensity went up a lot, and they challenged us to stay calm, cool and collected,” Levesque said. “And I think we needed that. It’s just nice to have someone to compete with who’s definitely just as fast and just as strong as us.”

Stella Stewart, returning from a broken leg during the fall, added another goal in the third quarter, as did junior midfielder Alice Ferran. Freeport ended the game with six unanswered goals, kickstarted by Levesque’s third quarter buzzer-beater. 

Senior Devyn Eliasen saved six shots for Maranacook/Winthrop. Senior Hailly Curtis saved 11 shots for Freeport.