COLLISION IN FRONT OF THE NET — Fryeburg Academy goalie Makayla Cooper tries to catch the ball after it was deflected by FA defender Sage Boivin and Lake Region's Kristen Huntress. (Rivet Photo)

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Raiders 1, Lake Region 0: Facing a tough final stretch of the regular season and trying to move up in the Class B South Heal Ratings, the Raiders picked up a big 1-0 victory Tuesday at home against rival Lake Region.

In a back-and-forth contest, the Raiders netted the lone goal on a Mackenzie Buzzell drive from the right side.

Both teams had a few scoring chances, but the defenses controlled most of the action. The Raiders nearly scored just before halftime with a scramble in front of the LR goal. Late in the game, Julia Quinn made a strong bid to give FA some breathing room, but her shot from the left wing just sailed over the crossbar.

Lake Region had a couple of strong scoring bids including a bullet by Lauren Jakobs, which struck the inside of the far post and bounced back into play. Kristen Huntress nearly headed a ball into the net as she collided with FA defender Sage Boivin and Raider goalie Makayla Cooper.

Heal Watch: The Raiders improve to 6-2-1 and were ranked #7 Wednesday.

Up next: FA travels to Sacopee Valley today, Oct. 8, and head to Cape Elizabeth on Tuesday. The Raiders host York next Thursday, Oct 15 at 4 p.m. and close out the regular season at Lake Region on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m.

BRIDGET TWEEDIE of Fryeburg Academy winds up and lets a shot fly during Friday's game at Gray-NG. The Raiders prevailed 4-1. (Rivet Photo)

FIELD HOCKEY

Raiders 4, Poland 0: Lexi Charles scored with just three minutes gone in the first half, which proved to be the game winner over the Knights. The game was shut down for 15 minutes when a passing torrential downpour forced the teams to take shelter in a nearby maintenance shed.

With 17 minutes remaining in the game, Bridget Tweedie scored on an assist from Mariah Davis. In the last five minutes of the game, Nicole Thurston, who assisted on Charles’ score, fired a drive off the Poland netminder’s pads for a 3-0 lead. Tweedie netted her second goal to close out the scoring.

Raiders 4, Gray-NG 1: Nicole Thurston scored twice as the Raiders (8-3) handled the Patriots (6-6) at Gray last Friday. Alexis Charles and Heather Howard added goals for Fryeburg, which led 4-0 at halftime. Bridget Fahey made four saves for the Raiders.

CELEBRATION — Nicole Thurston (left) is congratulated by teammates after scoring off a penalty stroke to break a 1-1 tie with Freeport with 3:24 left in Tuesday's game. (Rivet Photo)

Raiders 3, Freeport 1: On a day when the Raider offense failed to unload a barrage of drives on net as it usually does, Nicole Thurston made the most of her shots.

With 3:24 left in regulation, Thurston converted a penalty stroke with a shot that was just under the crossbar, and then sealed the victory with a drive from the left side less than 25 seconds later, off a pass from Bridget Tweedie, to complete a hat trick Tuesday at the Academy.

FA Coach Dede Frost felt her squad wasn’t nearly as sharp as previous outings, but their overall effort enabled them to pull out the victory.

FA led 1-0 at the half, but Freeport (6-5) momentarily stunned the home team, scoring off a penalty corner chance. The Raiders ramped up their offensive charge, and swarmed the Freeport net, forcing the Falcon goalie to pin the ball, resulting in a penalty stroke.

“The rest of the season is just a race for playoffs. We will be looking to pick up points from other teams to make our way into the bracket…hoping also to avoid a prelim game,” Coach Frost said. “We will continue to work on improving our goal percentage on corners as this has been recently plaguing us. We need to continue to push through some ongoing injuries, as well to get the most out of our players at the most critical times. The team’s goal is to reach our peak at the right time, as we all know that at this point in the season its important to play to our full potential as fatigue and other season factors take their toll.”

Heal Watch: Based on the Heal Ratings released Wednesday, the Raiders (9-3) currently hold the #3 seed.

Up next: The Raiders host Kennebunk on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

FOOTBALL

Raiders 34, Freeport 7: Wide receiver Nicholis L’Heureux-Carland caught touchdown passes of 6 and 45 yards from FA quarterback Ryan Gullikson in the first quarter as the Raiders rolled past Freeport.

Gullikson got the Raiders off to a good start when he broke a play 65 yards for a score just 19 seconds into the contest.

After TD strikes to L’Heureux-Carland for a 20-0 lead after one quarter, the Raiders enjoyed a 28-0 advantage at the half as Cody Gullikson found daylight for a 10-yard score. Ryan Gullikson, who derailed a Freeport drive with an interception, tacked on the two-point conversion with 2:25 left until intermission.

The Raiders added a 23-yard TD run by Oscar Saunders in the third quarter to close out their scoring. Freeport (0-5) got on the board on an 8-yard pass.

Up next: The Raiders (2-3) face a critical game at home this Saturday when they host Poland (2-3). The Knights are presently ranked sixth while the Raiders are seventh in the Campbell Conference Crabtree Rankings. A win would help the Raiders improved their playoff seeding, looking to avoid a first-round match-up with Yarmouth. Game time is 1:30 p.m.

GOLF

Monday was the team qualifier for the Western Class B Conference. Twelve schools were represented at the event held at Willowdale Golf Club.

“It’s a team event were each team is allowed to take six golfers and you take the top four scores from the six and that makes up your team score total. At the same event, individuals for the boys state tournament takes places with the top 11 scores and ties qualifying for the individual States,” FA Coach Chris Dutton explained. “The team has been anxious for this day for the past few weeks, as they had set their sights to getting a spot back to the Team State Championships, and a chance to improve on last year’s showing.”

Representing the Raiders were Jordan Lowe, Tyler Worcester, Addison Schwartz, Keegan Jones, Kaylin Delany and Chris Bergquist.

“Scores were higher than I anticipated. Greens seemed to be rolling fast, and nerves seemed to be affecting teams and players alike. When it was all said in done the team had a great afternoon,” Coach Dutton said.

Fryeburg Academy finished second overall as a team to Cape Elizabeth, earning one of the four spots in the Team State Championships on Saturday, Oct. 10. Rival Lake Region also earned a spot.

“I’m happy for Art (Kilborn, the Lakers’ head coach), and the Laker players. Art does a great job with them, and its good to see both of our local teams to be in the State finals. It’s back-to-back years for both of our teams, so that is a nice twist,” Coach Dutton said.

Tyler Worcester was the low man for Fryeburg, shooting an 80 and in the process tied for second overall for individual score and punching his ticket also to the individual state championships. Jordan Lowe also qualified for the individual states with an 85. Kaylin Delaney shot an 89, followed by Addison Schwartz with a 92, and Keegan Jones and Chris Bergquist both shot 93s.

“With scoring up a bit, I was pleased that all of our scores were in the top 25 out of the 70 plus players,” Coach Dutton said.

This Saturday at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro, the Raiders will look to build on the momentum for the qualifier and use some of last year’s experience playing in the States to improve on their overall team finish.

“It will be fun to watch them. I am happy for the whole team, as they have worked hard to get better each day and improve their golf games. They also get along great interacting, and supporting each other so that makes it more rewarding to sit back on Saturday and enjoy watching them play at the Championships,” Coach Dutton said.

The following Saturday, Jordan, Tyler and Kaylin will head back up again for the Individual Championships, where all three should fare well.

The Raiders finished their regular season last week, suffering their first loss of the season at Cape Elizabeth, and then rebounded with a win over Sacopee Valley highlighted by wins by seniors Jordan Lowe and Aaron Hennessey.

CROSS COUNTRY

At Poland last Friday, it was a rest day for top Raider runners Patrick Carty, Emily Carty and Anna Lastra. With the pack leaders out, Ryan Hewes and Christian Bedell were #5 and #6 overall for the boys, while Irina Norkin, Emily Grzyb and Zoe Maguire went 6-7-8 for the Raider girls.

Here’s how they finished:

Boys’ results

Winning time was 17:21

5. Ryan Hewes, 18:26
6. Christian Bedell, 18:37
7. Alfie Walker, 19:29
8. Seth Johnston, 21:32
9. Connor Moody, 21:48
10. Ben Caffrey, 22:17
11. Tony Santarelli, 22:28
12. Reed Wales, 23:04
13. Sam Paulding, 24:34

Final standings: Freeport 21, Fryeburg 62, Old Orchard Beach 77, Poland 78

Girls’ results

Winning time was 20:59

6. Irina Norkin, 22:32
7. Emily Grzyb, 22:38
8. Zoe Maguire, 22:52
9. Olivia Thompson, 24:23
10. Ella Forbes, 24:33
11. Emily McDermith, 25:23
12. Emmajo Armington, 25:58
13. Costanza Santarelli, 26:52

Final standings: Freeport 22, Fryeburg 47, Poland 65

Up next: The Raiders go to Freeport Friday to run against the Falcons, Greely, NYA and Lake Region starting at 4 p.m.