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PORTLAND — Even when Thornton Academy felt overlooked this season, the Golden Trojans knew what they were capable of achieving.
“We have been underdogs all season,” said coach Kelly Foley. “Even when we were third in the rankings, second in the rankings, people still kept overlooking us, and that’s exactly where we were comfortable being because we knew what we could do. And people underestimating us is always going to be their mistake, not ours.”
Thornton Academy ended up making history, defeating top-seeded Kennebunk, 9-8, in the Class A state championship game Saturday to claim its first title.
“We’re the first girls ever to do it, and we put so much work into this season and it feels amazing to do it as a team,” sophomore Olivia Lamey said.
Thornton lost 8-3 to Kennebunk early in the season and finished second behind the Rams in the Heal point standings. The rematch was tightly contested until the final buzzer sounded.
Kennebunk was playing in its sixth Class A final in the last seven seasons.
“A lot of these seniors have been with us four years,” Kennebunk coach Annie Barker said. “They’re a pretty special group of kids. And they’ve won one (state title) and they’ve lost one. This was their third time going. And we said yesterday to them, ‘what felt better, winning or losing?’ And they had the package, they had all they could. (The Golden Trojans) were pumped. They were fired up. And good for them to finish it. There’s only so much you can do and so many changes you can make.”
The Golden Trojans (15-2) scored the first three goals and led 4-1 by the end of the first quarter. The momentum then swung in favor of Kennebunk (15-2), which got four straight goals in the second quarter to tie the game at 6-6.
By halftime, Thornton held a 7-6 lead.
Kennebunk pulled even again in the third quarter, but Thornton regained the lead six minutes later.
After one more deadlock, Lamey scored the final goal of the game with just over eight minutes remaining. The Golden Trojans ran down the clock from there.
“We were basically just in the stall game,” sophomore Sophia Sirois said. “We needed to get it away from (Kennebunk’s) end, and our coach has been making us run and we’re conditioned, so we were just going around and hoping that they wouldn’t take it.”
Lamey said the Golden Trojans were much improved from the team that lost to Kennebunk in April.
“Beginning of the season, we were a completely different team,” Lamey said. “We’ve grown so much. We were in man defense in the beginning of the season. Now we have zone. We have the best zone ever.”
Lamey and junior Oceanna LaMarre each finished with two goals, while Sirois scored three.
Foley said the championship will be celebrated by former Thornton players in addition to the current group.
“Four out of our five coaches are alumni and TA has such a strong alumni community,” Foley said. “And these four, all of us, we played. This isn’t just taking it home for this team, it’s for every single girls lacrosse player that has worn the jersey. And we’re the first to ever do it, but I’ll try my absolute darndest to make sure we’re not the last.”