GARDINER — Maranacook/Winthrop goaltender Isaiah Weston knew he had big shoes to fill when he took over the starting job at the beginning of the year. 

The sophomore netminder had the tall order of replacing Zach Bessette, who helped guide the Hawks to an undefeated regular season during his senior season last year. 

Weston filled the role admirably, and if his most recent showing is a sign of things to come, the Hawks are in good hands. Weston stopped 16 shots in Maranacook/Winthrop’s 10-4 victory over Gardiner on Wednesday. The Hawks’ goalie hasn’t allowed more than five goals a game through his first three starts. 

“He’s only a sophomore at the end of the day and having the confidence to lead our team and he’s got a lot of pressure,” Maranacook/Winthrop coach Zach Stewart said. “Last year, we did pretty well so that pressure comes year to year. People have the expectation that you’re going to be a good program. That falls on him when he doesn’t stop a ball and that’s hard to shake that from your mind as a keeper.” 

Weston didn’t let many shots get by him. After Gardiner’s Walker Norton scored with 10:44 left in the first half to pull his team within 4-3, the Tigers went the next 28:15 without a goal. Weston made 11 saves during that stretch, including a point-blank stop on Michael Poirier in the final moments of the third quarter. 

“It’s more quick reactions,” Weston said. “These players, especially (Josh) Caldwell, you can’t really predict him. He puts it where he wants. (Jacob) Truman, he just has a really fast shot. It’s just a pure reaction to those shots.” 

The Hawks’ (2-1) defense bottled up both Caldwell and Truman, who guided the 207 lacrosse team to a title in the 2015 Indoor Action Sports Cabin Fever tournament in March. Both were kept off the score sheet. Maranacook/Winthrop sophomore Drew Davis drew the defensive assignment on Caldwell. 

“Our goal was to play good fundamental defense and that’s really what we did,” Stewart said. “Drew Davis did such a fantastic job on Josh Caldwell, one of the best in the state. He was just super, super patient. It’s hard to be patient against a guy like that.” 

With Gardiner’s offense in check, the Hawks took their first and only lead of the contest with a three-goal burst to end the first quarter. Denver Cram scored with the man advantage to tie the game, followed by two quick strikes from James Canwell as the Hawks built a 4-2 lead after one. 

Canwell added his third of the game with 8:29 left in the half for a 6-3 lead. Neither team would find the back of the net before halftime. 

“Just our quick ball movement and getting shots down low,” Canwell said. “That’s really what the key was for us today.” 

The Hawks had a golden opportunity to extend their lead late in the first half when Gardner (1-1) was whistled for a pair of infractions. On the same play, Kaleb Caron was whistled for slashing and Cameron Bell, who scored Gardiner’s first two goals, was assessed a two-minute unreleasable penalty for contact to the head.

The Tigers killed it off, allowing just one shot on net, but it didn’t generate the momentum they had hoped as they wouldn’t register a goal until Chase Begin solved Weston with 5:29 left. 

“This is a game of momentum, especially since there’s a little rivalry going on that if you don’t take care of them the momentum could swing either way,” Gardiner coach KC Johnson. “Some of our clears were crisp, every thing was good in the first half. It started to slip a little bit and got into a physical game, which I don’t think either team should. In the past years both teams have been about ball movement and finesse.” 

After committing just six turnovers in the first half, the Tigers coughed the ball up 10 times in the third quarter, leading to its offensive inefficiency. They managed just two shots on Weston during the 12-minute stretch. 

“Our slide calling is definitely better,” Weston said. “At the NYA game it wasn’t as good. It wasn’t as loud. This game we were able to call everybody. It wasn’t just me it was everybody calling their slides and being able to find out who was going to be the one and two.” 

Maranacook/Winthrop’s Kyle Morand added two goals in the second half for his hat trick and Canwell tacked on his fourth. 

Gardiner goalie Spencer King finished with five saves.