Bonny Eagle boys lacrosse knocks off Edward Little in Class A prelim
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Bonny Eagle’s Wyatt Cyr, left crouching, and a teammate console Edward Little’s Matt Fecteau after a Class A playoff game Tuesday in Auburn. Bonny Eagle won 8-7 despite three goals by Fecteau. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
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AUBURN —Michael Nielsen planned to be a short-stick midfielder to close out his high school lacrosse career for Bonny Eagle.
However, those plans changed in March when starting goalie Asa Proctor had ACL surgery. The Scots needed a goalie. Nielsen, who had prior experience as a backup goalie, stepped into the starting role, and he took center stage Tuesday night in a Class A preliminary-round boys lacrosse game.
With time winding down in the fourth quarter, Nielsen made his biggest save of the season, securing the 12th-seeded Scots’ 8-7 victory over fifth-seeded Edward Little.
It was his 18th save of the game.
“When they started coming down, and I made that last save, it was just, wow,” Nielsen said.
Bonny Eagle (9-6) will take on No. 4 Deering (10-4) in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
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Edward Little coach Tyler Haskell said the Red Eddies (12-3) got the shot they wanted at the end.
“We were able to get the ball off of a turnover, and Logan Averill had one hell of a bid,” said Haskell, whose team defeated Bonny Eagle, 11-9, in the regular season. That could have (gone) in, but it also could have been saved. He had one final bid that was a really good shot. I’m really proud of the effort, at the end of the day.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Jayden Turgeon, Davis Powell and Landon Emmons scored in the first quarter to give Bonny Eagle a 3-0 lead.
• Matt Fecteau scored two of his three goals in the second quarter as the Red Eddies cut the deficit to 5-4 at halftime.
“I do wish we had a couple more minutes there,” Haskell said of his team’s momentum. “We did have a big second quarter, but you can’t control the time, at the end of the day.”
• Averill tied the game at 6-6 early in the fourth before Davonte Ephron responded for Bonny Eagle. Fecteau made it 7-7 with just under five minutes to play, but Emmons got the winner with under two minutes remaining.
“I was being confident with my skill and just putting it on cage and hoping for the best,” Emmons said.
THEY SAID IT
• “I really appreciate all the guys I’m with, the coaches, all the staff, everything that goes into this team. It’s not an individual effort, but a team effort.” — Nielsen
• “We’ve made playoffs a few times, usually against an unfavorable team. They handle us pretty quickly, and that’s that. This year, drawing the same team that we played a couple of weeks ago in pouring rain, (and lost to) 11-9. I had a feeling that we could definitely compete with them if every player on the team gave their best.” — Bonny Eagle coach Andrew Slefinger
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Tagged: bonny eagle scots, edward little red eddies
Nathan Fournier has been a sports reporter for the Sun Journal the past eight years. He enjoys hanging out with family and friends, watching sports when he's not working. He's a 2010 graduate of the New. More by Nathan Fournier
