KENNEBUNK – It took double overtime and putting a lost goal behind them, but the Thornton Academy boys’ lacrosse team finished off a stirring 11-10 comeback victory Saturday when sophomore Parker Roma found the net.

Roma collected a shot by classmate Josh Cyr from the right wing that zipped past Kennebunk goalie Ben Bath, and quickly put it into the net to end the Western Class A semifinal.

“I saw Josh take that shot. I figured his was going in,” Roma said. “I scooped it up and just shot it and it went in. Unreal. Unreal. The best feeling.”

Roma’s goal put Thornton into the regional final against No. 1 Scarborough, the defending state champion, at 4 p.m. Wednesday in a rematch of the 2010 final.

No. 2 Kennebunk (9-4) used a fast-breaking transition game to score four goals in taking a 6-1 lead over No. 3 Thornton (11-3) in the first quarter. Thornton picked up its defensive intensity immediately at the start of the second quarter but still trailed 9-5 with four minutes left in the third. Thornton goals by Greg Lodge, Cody Forbes and Roma cut the lead to 9-8 and set up a wild finish.

In the regular season matchup, Thornton came back from an 8-2 deficit before losing 9-8.

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“Today we just wanted to make sure we finished it,” Roma said.

Thornton tied the game at 9 on a goal by Cyr. After Kennebunk senior Max Meserve scored his fourth goal, Lodge tied it again with his third of the game.

With 1:31 to play, it looked like Chris Dolewa put Thornton on top with a close-range shot. But Dolewa’s apparent goal came after an official had whistled a Thornton timeout that Coach Ryan Hersey no longer wanted.

“I was asking for a timeout when (Cory) Dion was getting double-teamed, then Dion threw it down there and I’m not going to call a timeout when we have the ball right in front of the goal,” Hersey said. “It was an honest mistake (and) easier to accept after a win.”

Bath (12 saves) and Thornton goalie Brett Levasseur (12 saves) came up with huge saves in the final minute of regulation and the first overtime. Levasseur’s biggest stop in the second overtime came when he scooped the ball from his feet and out of the mud on a shot by Clayton Spang.

Spang and Sean Finn each had two goals and an assist for Kennebunk. Thornton got three goals each from Roma, Cyr and Lodge.

 


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