FREEPORT — Eighth-seeded Freeport rode an opportunistic offense and stingy defense to a 3-0 victory against ninth-seeded Cape Elizabeth in a Class B South field hockey prelim Saturday.

The Falcons (7-7-1) will play top-seeded York in a regional quarterfinal Wednesday with the time to be determined. The unbeaten Wildcats are the two-time defending state champions.

On Sept. 24, York rolled to a 5-0 win over Freeport in a Western Maine Conference game at York.

“We just want to make it better,” Freeport Coach Marcia Wood said. “If you make it better than the last time, who knows what you can make it? Just a little bit better than last time is all we can make it.”

It was the Falcons’ third win of the season against the Capers. On Sept. 6, they rolled to a 4-0 win on the artificial turf at Cape Elizabeth. On Oct. 6, Freeport eked out a 2-1 win on the natural grass home field.

“The defense played great,” Wood said. “Cape was all pressure, pressure. Even with all the corners against us, we were able to clear (the ball) out and maintain the shutout.”

Goalie Megan Seymour, one of just four seniors on the Freeport roster, had to make just five saves to post her fourth shutout of the season.

“We’ve had trouble marking (players), but this game (the defense) did awesome,” Seymour said. “They listened and watched all the people, so that was really good.”

The Capers, who were awarded 14 penalty corners in the game, had their chances but were unable to convert as defenders Izzy Masterson, Ireland Hall and Kelsey Williams did a good job of clearing the balls out of the zone before they reached Seymour.

Natalie Anderson opened the scoring with less than 15 minutes left in the first half, putting in a shot from the left side of the goal after receiving Alexa Koenig’s feed from the right side on the Falcons’ second penalty corner of the game.

“It was a closely matched game and I think Freeport scoring the goal in the first half and being confident was big,” Cape Elizabeth Coach Maura Bisogni said. “We tried really hard but we never had the momentum.”

Less than four minutes after Anderson’s goal, Bailey Coffin turned a pass from Chloe Davidson into a goal and a 2-0 lead.

“What I like is the majority of the goals, if not all of them, were assisted,” Wood said. “A lot of our goals have come during scrums in front of the goalie. To see assisted goals was nice.”

With less than seven minutes left in the game, Kerry Lefebvre completed the scoring when she slapped the rebound of a shot by Koenig into the cage.

With the loss, Cape ended the season with a 5-10 record. It was a big improvement over last season when the Capers scored just two goals while going 0-14.

“We’re happy to be here, happy to be in the playoffs,” Bisogni said.

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