FREEPORT – The Yarmouth High girls’ lacrosse team waited for a year to get another crack at Freeport and made the most of it Friday.
The third-seeded Clippers scored twice in the last four minutes to pull out a 12-10 victory against the second-ranked Falcons in an Eastern Class B semifinal.
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Yarmouth will be home Wednesday against fifth-seeded Morse in the final.
Last June, Freeport eked out a 12-11 overtime win over Yarmouth to capture its first regional girls’ lacrosse title.
Both teams belong to the Western Maine Conference but didn’t meet in the regular season.
“We play a lot of the same teams but it’s difficult to gauge them from that,” said Grace O’Donnell, who led the Clippers with three goals and an assist. “We really didn’t know what to expect and we worked hard preparing for this game.”
Both teams, with a first-round bye, had more than a week to prepare.
It showed.
The game was played in a steady drizzle.
“It was a great game,” Yarmouth Coach Dorothy Holt said. “Both teams really played well in the wet, slippery conditions.”
The score was tied or the lead changed hands 12 times.
In the end it was Yarmouth’s ability to maintain possession in the closing minutes that made the difference.
“Our possession of the ball was the key,” Holt said. “We did a good job of holding the ball.”
The Clippers (6-7) took the lead for good when Ali Merrill converted a free-position shot into her third goal of the game to snap a 10-10 tie with less than four minutes left.
Yarmouth, which lost four of its last five games to end the regular season, held an 8-6 halftime lead.
The Clippers took a 9-6 lead when Alex Lucas scored her second goal 1:46 into the second half, but the Falcons answered with four consecutive goals over the next nine minutes to regain the lead.
“The girls never quit,” Freeport Coach Karin Kurry said. “They played hard right to the very end.”
O’Donnell forged a 10-10 tie when she turned a feed from Samantha Fallon into her third goal with 11:06 remaining in the game to snap a scoring drought that had lasted nearly 12 minutes.
With less than six minutes left, Freeport goalie Molly Lane stopped a free-position shot from O’Donnell to maintain the tie, but Morrill scored the game-winning goal less than two minutes later.
Emma Torres scored with four seconds remaining to account for Yarmouth’s final margin of victory.
Molly Maguire, Olivia Conrad and Lane Simsarian also scored for the Clippers, who held a 19-18 edge in shots.
Jocelyn Davee led the Falcons (6-6) with four goals. Meredith Broderick followed with three goals. Aubrey Perla scored two goals and Bethany Knighton added a goal.
Lane made six saves for the Falcons, while goalie Jordan Brown, back after a three-game absence because of a head injury, made five saves for the Clippers.
Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
Twitter: PaulBetitPPH
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