PORTLAND – Scout Haffenreffer said it was all about staying calm and composed.

Trailing most of the game, the top-seeded Waynflete girls’ lacrosse team never looked ruffled or frustrated Wednesday, and eventually wore down and then held off third-ranked Cape Elizabeth to win the Western Class B final, 8-7.

Trailing 4-1 after less than eight minutes, Waynflete controlled play for most of the rest of the game, finally taking a lead when Martha Veroneau scored with 8:39 left.

Veroneau added a goal on a free shot four minutes later. Waynflete Coach Cathie Connors had been imploring her team to possess the ball, but Veroneau saw opportunities.

“Cathie tells us if we see an opening, take it, so I saw a couple openings, so I tried to take them. I mean, we all tried really hard as a team and just pulled it through,” Veroneau said.

Veroneau, Haffenreffer, Liv Chap and Izzer Berrang were instrumental in playing keep-away for the final 2:30 after Anna Darling scored for Cape with 2:42 left.

“One of the best things to do in a situation like that is to stay calm and stay composed,” Heffenreffer said. “That’s a factor that our team is really good at.”

Waynflete (12-2) will try for its ninth state championship and third in four years when it plays Yarmouth (13-1) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. Waynflete and Yarmouth split this year, both winning at home.

Waynflete probably should have taken a lead earlier except for two things: It kept firing high-quality chances high over the net, and Cape goalie Abby McInerney had an outstanding game.

Cape Coach Kurt Chapin found out Monday that his regular goalie, Elin Sonesson, suffered a broken thumb against Falmouth in the semifinals. McInerney began her goaltending tutelage Tuesday.

“I had an hour and a half to work with Abby,” Chapin said. “She played fabulous. Just an unbelievable athlete to be able to go in there, under the pressure, and do what she did was absolutely fabulous.”

McInerney finished with 10 saves, six in the opening minutes while Cape (10-4) built leads of 4-1 and 5-2, using crisp passing around the cage and a pair of goals each from Lauren Steidl and Talley Perkins.

“They came out really strong. They’re a very powerful team,” Connors said.

“We needed to just call a timeout, regroup, and remind them they’d been down before and we could pull it together, but we had to come back to our game. We had to be more patient than we were being.”

Behind Berrang, Haffenreffer and Hannah Rindlaub, the Waynflete defense began to force more and more turnovers, and turned the ground balls into possessions.

Waynflete cut the lead to 5-4 on goals from Veroneau, Sadie Cole (three goals), Mica Thompson and Chap. Cole’s second and third goals made it 6-6.

 

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