CAPE ELIZABETH – Wilson Laprade turned a pass from Casey O’Donovan into a fast-break goal 3:46 into overtime Wednesday to lift Cape Elizabeth to an 8-7 victory against previously unbeaten Falmouth in a schoolboy lacrosse game at misty, foggy Hannaford Field.

“We’ve been working hard all year,” said Timmy Takach, who had three goals and two assists for the Capers. “We’ve had our up and downs, but it’s really good to see us finally come together as a team. We stood as a team and that was what we needed to do.”

The Capers (6-2) looked like they had the game wrapped up in regulation, but Nick Bachman of Falmouth scored his second goal of the game with two seconds left to make it 7-7 and force overtime.

“I’ve got to hand it to our kids for hanging in there,” Falmouth Coach Mike Lebel said. “We haven’t been tested quite like that. To respond like that is outstanding.”

The Capers held a 5-3 lead at the end of the first half.

“Their defense shut us down early,” Lebel said. “Cape played better than we did in the first half.”

Takach had two goals and two assists to help Cape build a 5-1 lead less than 18 minutes into the game.

“(Takach) does a lot of things for us,” Cape Elizabeth Coach Ben Raymond said. Sometimes he’s the mismatch. Sometimes he’s not. Tonight he was the mismatch and he was able to beat his man, and he shot the ball well.”

The Yachtsmen got goals from Bachman and Brandon McDonnell in the final two minutes of the first half to close the gap.

Falmouth (7-1) held a 13-11 edge in shots in the first half, but goalkeeper Jack Roos made nine saves to help keep the Capers in the lead.

Early in the third quarter, the Yachtsmen made it 5-5 when McDonnell and Will Sipperly scored goals on back-to-back possessions.

Cape Elizabeth slipped back into the lead when Takach moved down the left side for his third goal with 58 seconds left in the period.

Teddy Smith made it 7-5 when he turned a feed from Laprade into a goal 35 seconds into the fourth.

But Falmouth, which beat the Capers twice in the regular season last year before losing to them in overtime in the regional final, kept on coming.

Less than three minutes into the fourth quarter, Danny Goodrich scored on a long shot from the top to reduce Cape’s lead to one goal. Then Bachman’s last-moment goal sent the game into overtime.

Roos made 20 saves in regulation and three in overtime.

“He played very well tonight,” Raymond said. “He saw the ball well. He made a lot of good saves. More than that he really helped our clear. He cleared the ball well. I think he turned it over once on the clear.”

Lebel said his team learned something from the loss. 

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH

 

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