Before the season, there was little doubt the Cape Elizabeth boys would have enough offense to make it extremely tough on opposing defenses.

Two weeks into the season, indications are the Capers also can put up a strong defensive wall in front of rookie varsity goalie Will Gaduti.

Cape, 3-0 going into today’s game against winless Waynflete, is scoring nearly 13 goals per game while allowing barely three goals per game.

Alex Bornick, a junior in his second varsity season, Ned Melanson, a senior defender who missed most of last season because of mononucleosis, and Adam Haverstat, a junior who spent last season as a long-stick middie, have been key operatives for the Capers on the defense.

“We’re all good players, and we have really good team chemistry,” Bornick said.

“It’s really important to have good chemistry on a defense because it is such a team thing, a strategic thing to really click well.”

Team chemistry may have been a problem for last year’s squad. It went 11-3, losing 11-9 to Class B state champion Falmouth in the Western regional final.

“I think last year we had a little bit of a breakdown between players,” Bornick said. “This year, we’ve got great chemistry. In practices especially, everybody tries to be as positive as they can. The better chemistry we have the more we can progress, and we’ve got this good chemistry early in the season, which should help us get as far as we can go.”

The Capers, who won a Class B state title two years ago, still have work to do.

“I’m happy with where our team is, right now, because usually our team is a lot lower at this time of year and we progress a lot during the course of the year,” said Tim Lavallee, a senior middie who plans to play at Division I Providence College next spring.

“I still think we’ve got a lot to improve so we’re only going to get better throughout the season.”

Where are the areas the Capers need to improve?

“Catching and throwing,” Lavallee said. “We still make a lot of turnovers, and we’ve had more than we wanted.”

 

THE YARMOUTH GIRLS are off to an 0-4 start, but Coach Dorothy Holt is convinced better days are ahead for the rebuilding Clippers.

“This team has just got to gain some confidence in themselves,” she said.

Yarmouth, minus 13 players from last season’s championship squad, opened the season with two games against unbeaten Falmouth as well as contests against defending Class A state champion Scarborough and reigning Western Class B champion Waynflete.

“It’s a tough schedule, but I think we’ve shown we can compete with these guys,” Holt said. “We just got to tweak a few more of our basics and not turn the ball over.”

 

GAME TO WATCH: The Falmouth girls will try to record their first win ever against Waynflete when they play host to the Flyers Friday night.

The Yachtsmen, averaging more than 15 goals per game, are off to a 4-0 start, while Waynflete is 5-0 going after Tuesday’s 17-3 win over Fryeburg Academy.

 

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH