FREEPORT — When your team is winless, confidence can be hard to find. The Yarmouth girls’ lacrosse team found it Saturday and held on to that feeling.

Shannon Fallon scored five goals to lead Yarmouth to a 16-3 win over Freeport in a Western Maine Conference game.

The Clippers (1-2) got a spark from sophomore goalkeeper Mary Kate Gunville (nine saves), who fought off a persistent assault by the Falcons (0-3) in the early stages of the game. Yarmouth went on to score five times in the opening 12 minutes to build a 5-1 lead.

Emma Torres and Lily Watson each had two goals for the well-balanced Clippers, who got goals from seven other players.

“We don’t have that one big standout player,” Yarmouth Coach Dorothy Holt said. “We’re a team trying to work as a team. Today showed that we’re getting the confidence to go to the cage and put (the ball) in the back of the cage. That’s huge. And it doesn’t matter who does it.”

Ball movement and timely cutting opened things up for Fallon.

“A lot of our game is mental at this point,” she said. “This is a big game as a confidence booster, just knowing we do have the talent to win. Our teamwork has gotten better.”

The game was a matchup between the defending Class B state champion Clippers and a Freeport team that reached the Eastern Class B final. Both teams have had a rough start. Yarmouth opened with losses to Falmouth (14-9) and York (8-6). Freeport fell to York (11-4) and Cape Elizabeth (12-6).

“In the opening 2:30 of the game, we turned the ball over four times,” Holt said. “It was close the first three or four minutes, and Mary Kate kept us in it.”

Freeport’s early push led to shots by Lily Johnston, Emily Johnson and Lizzy Martin. Bolstered by Gunville’s play, Yarmouth’s defenders found their feet and began closing down shots.

“A lack of scoring definitely does not get the momentum going your way,” Freeport Coach Marcia Wood said. “(Gunville) came up with a few good saves to deflate us. Then we couldn’t figure out how to get around her. The more we were swarmed, the more we panicked.”

Freeport got on the board 14:29 into the first half when Johnston finished a pass from Johnson while the Falcons were playing a man up, cutting the Clippers’ lead to 3-1.

Two minutes later, Watson answered for Yarmouth.

“It was on a crease roll and I tried to put it between three sticks, and it might have skimmed the goalie’s stick and went in,” she said. “Hey, they all count, and it was off an awesome pass from (Fallon).”

Yarmouth held Freeport scoreless for the next 26 minutes, building a 13-2 lead. Torres, Lane Simsarian and Katie Waeldner led the Clippers’ defense in midfield.

“It’s all about making each other look good, making those crisp passes and supporting each other,” Torres said.

“We’ve been pushing each other really hard in practice. We really needed a win, so we came out and went for it.”

The Falcons got late goals from Johnson and Martin.

“We have a lot do,” Wood said. “We’ve been talking about all these things, and at some point we need to start doing it. At some point it all needs to click, and it needs to be a team effort.”

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