Yarmouth 9

Cape Elizabeth 4

The Cape Elizabeth boys’ lacrosse team found themselves in a hole early in the Class B State Championship game against Yarmouth on Saturday and the Capers were never able to climb out, losing 9-4 to the Clippers. Yarmouth got goals from six different players. Jason Hichborn led all scorers with three goals for Yarmouth. Zach Belden had a pair for the Capers.

“They have a lot of options scoring-wise,” Cape coach Ben Raymond said of the Clippers. “Toward the end, we were coming out of our defense trying to pressure the ball and they got some extra goals. Offensively they took care of the ball well. They catch and throw very well.”

Yarmouth drew first blood in the first quarter when Jack Gross swung around his defender and bounced one by Cape netminder Jack Roos on a feed from John Curry. Rob Highland netted the second Yarmouth goal with just 1:27 to go in the opening quarter. Hichborn gave the Clippers a 3-0 lead with 49.9 seconds to go in the first when he scooped up a ground ball and buried it in the net.

The Capers had several shots in the first quarter, but were unable to get any of them by Yarmouth keeper Jon Poole. Cape came out firing in the second quarter, but once again, Poole was able to stop every shot he saw. In the second quarter the Capers outshot their opponents 5-3.

“Their goalie played very well.” Raymond said. “I don’t know how many saves he made, but he made quite a few; especially in the beginning of the game. That gave them some momentum and some confidence. Our kids shot decent, we got our shots; we did what we were trying to do offensively. Their goalie just made great saves.”

At halftime, the Clippers held a 4-0 advantage thanks to a second quarter goal from Sam Miller.

Just as they had at the beginning of the second, the Capers unleashed a barrage of shots in the early stages of the third quarter. Belden finally broke the shutout with his first goal of the game at just under two minutes into the second half off a pass from Johnny Hayes. That made it a 4-1 game.

Yarmouth added to their lead with 3:26 left in the third. Curry scored on a hard shot that deflected off Roos and into the net. With 1:34 left in the third, the Clippers made it a 6-1 score on another goal by Hichborn. Despite the deficit, Raymond thought his defense looked good overall.

I think our defense played pretty well,” he said. “There are a couple we’d like to have back – one when we slid and shouldn’t have. They scored twice when we were a man down and that’s been a difference every time we have played them. Our penalties have hurt us and they have capitalized on their man up opportunities.”

Chris Bagley scored for Cape just 28 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it a 6-2 game. With 8:10 to go Belden netted his second goal to pull Cape within three goals. The Capers were starting to seize some momentum.

It didn’t last.

Just 14 seconds after Belden scored, Highland scored his second for the Clippers to make it a 7-3 game. As the Capers tried some different things on defense as the seconds ticked away, the Clippers tallied twice more to lead 9-3. Jim Wilcox scored the final Cape goal with just 53.5 seconds left but it was too late.

Despite coming up short in the end, Raymond had nothing but good things to say about the season the Capers enjoyed.

“We had a great season, just like we do every year,” he said. “Obviously you’d like to end it in a big pile in the middle of the field but that doesn’t happen to everybody. We’re lucky enough to be playing in this game. I think our kids will realize that, maybe later on, they will appreciate the season we had. We had our ups and downs but the kids got better each day. We showed that in the playoffs. They will be better lacrosse players and better people next year whether they are in college or playing here.”

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