KENNEBUNK — Liz Robinson spent most of the game setting up her Cape Elizabeth teammates. When the Western Class B girls’ lacrosse title was on the line, she took the game into her own hands.

Robinson, who recorded five assists in regulation, scored an unassisted goal with 1:13 remaining in the second overtime as third-ranked Cape Elizabeth upset No. 1 Kennebunk 8-7 Wednesday afternoon to win its first girls’ lacrosse regional championship.

The Capers (11-4), who had lost in the last three regional finals to Waynflete, will play Yarmouth at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Class B state championship game at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“It seems like we’ve kept getting here and not getting over the hump,” said Capers Coach Jeff Perkins. “Well, we got over it.”

Robinson played a key role, but so did many others. Kate Bosworth made six saves, all on in-close shots. Cape Elizabeth’s defense thwarted just about everything Kennebunk (10-4) tried to do.

The Rams had beaten Cape Elizabeth 14-11 in the regular season, scoring most of their goals on fast breaks. Wednesday, Cape Elizabeth’s defense slowed down the Rams. And once Kennebunk tried to set up, the Capers didn’t allow much penetration in close.

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“I just think we didn’t have any urgency on offense,” said Kennebunk Coach Annie Barker, who spent the afternoon imploring her players to shoot. “I just think we spent too much time holding the ball and not having that aggressive fire that you need to shoot the ball.”

It was a tight game throughout, tied 3-3 at the half, then again at 5 when Kennebunk’s Olivia Sandford scored on a rare Cape defensive breakdown with 11:27 remaining in regulation.

The Rams appeared to score 10 seconds later, but the goal was waved off for a crease violation that Barker said shouldn’t have been called. Instead, Cape Elizabeth came back on goals by Emma Landes one minute apart – both set up by Robinson from behind the net on identical plays – to make it 7-5 with 8:54 remaining.

Kennebunk then rallied. Haley Fecko scored a free position goal with 4:23 left. The Rams then got the tying goal by Jenny Bush with 15.2 seconds left in regulation. Fecko hit the post with 30 seconds left, but as a play broke down, Sandford gathered in a ground ball, twirled and passed to Bush, who made a quick shot for the equalizer.

The game stayed tied until Robinson struck. Setting up behind the goal as usual, she suddenly made a move to her left and swung in front of the net unguarded. She didn’t miss.

“The pressure was on and she saw something,” said Perkins. “I wanted her to hold it for another 30 seconds, 40 seconds, but she saw something and in her mind said I’m going.”

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This is what Robinson saw:

“I saw the goalie looking out the other side and I knew that they thought I was going to go right because I had been doing that throughout the entire game,” she said. “And I saw the defender on the other side looking the other way. So I said, ‘All right, I’m going left.'”

So she went. “When you see it, you’ve got to go,” she said.

“This means so much to us.”

Mike Lowe can be reached at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH


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