The Blue Bombers buried four goals in the opening half and tacked on two more early in the second before the Warriors netted the last two goals of the match.

And Willsboro’s tallies were historic ones, both scored by Jenna Ford. Her first came with 11:12 remaining and was the 100th of her high school career and buried her 101st with 12 seconds left on the game clock.

Lake Placid coach Brendan Gotham said his team struggled early on, but once the Blue Bombers got going, they poured it on. Olivia Ferebee tallied twice for the winners, and Lily Fisher, Rylee Preston, Natalie Tavares and Anisa Cecunjanin added a goal each.

Ferebee, a freshman, put Lake Placid on the board 14:16 into the match, and then Preston made some history of her own when she scored 1:34 later to put the Blue Bombers on top 2-0.

Lake Placid’s Izzy Armstrong (3) and Grace Carlson close on on Willsboro’s Gabby Marble during the opening half of Thursday’s game. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Preston is a senior who was named the Division II defensive player of the year as a sweeper a season ago. During her high school career, Preston had never netted a goal until Thursday. Her first ever came on a penalty kick play, and Preston, who has recently taken over in nets for the Blue Bombers, headed to the other end of the field to take the shot. She fired the ball, Willsboro keeper Abby Bruno made the save, the ball went right back to Preston, and she buried the rebound.

The Blue Bombers went on to score two more times in the half, with Fisher tallying at the 27:12 mark of the half, and Cecunjanin — an eighth-grader — netting her first varsity goal with 3:31 left in the half to give Lake Placid its 4-0 advantage at intermission.

Ferebee scored her second of the game 4:55 into the second half and Tavares made it 6-0 in favor of Lake Placid a little more than 10 minutes later.

Ford came close to scoring on two occasions earlier in the match before finally burying her 100th. She had a point-blank shot stopped by Preston with 1:10 left in the first half, and then, she had an opportunity to get one with her team trailing 6-0. That play also came on a penalty kick, and it was shot that Ford rocketed off a goal post. The ball bounced back to the junior and she buried the rebound, but since the ball hadn’t been touched, it was waved off.

But the next time Ford collected a rebound, she buried the shot that counted. The game was stopped, she was awarded the game ball, and for good measure, she found the back of the net one more time in the closing seconds to make it a 6-2 final.

“It was a really special night,” Gotham said. “Ford is a great player and I think everybody was happy to see her get her 100th. But it was also special to see Rylee Preston score the first goal of her career.

“The first 15 minutes we didn’t look good,” Gotham continued. “We came out of the gate a little slow but then starting passing the ball and moving it beautifully. It was nice to see Olivia getting it going on offense again, Natalie scored her first goal of the season, and Lily has been working her tail off, and it was good to see her get another one. It was a great night all the way around.”

Dariana Patterson had two assists for Lake Placid and Grace Erickson and Kiera Levitt chipped an assist apiece in the win.

Lake Placid finished with a 23-6 edge in shots. Preston played the opening half in goal for Lake Placid and made three saves. She was replaced by Arnita Cecunjanin, who also recorded three stops in the second half.

Bruno made 17 saves in goal for Willsboro.

Wednesday boys game

Lake Placid 1,

Beekmantown 0

The Lake Placid boys soccer team notched its third straight win, blanking Beekmantown 1-0 on the road Wednesday.

Blue Bombers coach Stuart Hemsley told his players they were the underdogs heading into the match, and they came through late, getting a goal from senior captain Matt Brandes with 10:02 left in the second half to claim the victory. Brandes scored on a corner kick taken by Joose Kahkonen.

Hemsley said it was a memorable win on the road over a Beekmantown team that just came off a 2-0 victory over Chazy.

“That game, as a coach, right now it’s a highlight of the season,” Hemsley said. “That’s a big one for the guys coming back. They’ll remember winning at Beekmantown on the road. The underdogs vs. the big dogs and that’s exactly what it was.”

Beekmantown out shot Lake Placid 18-5, but Hemsley said a lot of the Eagles attempts were long shots, and he added that the Blue Bombers defense and goalkeeper Jack Armstrong held strong.

“Beekmantown has good players across the field, but they never really tried to play through us.”

Hemsley credited his back line of Brandes, Nick Marvin, Grady Draper and Tristan Spotts with a solid performance.

Lake Placid improved to 3-4-1 with the win and next host rival Saranac Lake Saturday at the North Elba Show Grounds with the opening kickoff slated for 11 a.m.

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