CAPE ELIZABETH — Lauren Steidl has concluded that missing part of last season due to injury might have been the best thing that happened to her.

Steidl continued her torrid scoring pace with six goals Tuesday night to lead Cape Elizabeth to a 19-8 win over Freeport in a schoolgirl lacrosse game at Hannaford Field.

“To help me get through my (ankle) injury last year, my parents told me that it could be a blessing in disguise and it turned out they were right,” Steidl said.

“Last year was really tough. As an athlete you always want to try and work through it, but I had to back off so that I could be better for summer and for this season.”

Steidl, a junior who has verbally committed to Princeton, was limited to nine games last season and also had to accept reduced playing time in some of those.

She still managed to score 22 goals for a team that reached the Western Class B final.

This year Steidl is confident that ankle therapy has significantly improved her strength and balance.

The evidence is in her statistics.

It took only five games to match her goal total from a year ago and after enjoying her second six-goal game of the season, she has 29 overall.

“She’s a very strong one-on-one dodger and that’s where her strength is,” said Coach Jeff Perkins, who believes Steidl’s hunger for the game has been fueled by last season’s injury.

“She has good size and you can’t knock her off the ball. When she makes up her mind that she wants to go, she doesn’t need a lot of daylight. She’s so strong with both hands so you can’t play her one way or the other.”

Steidl got the Capers (8-0) rolling against the Falcons (4-4), scoring three times in the opening 14 minutes for a 7-3 lead.

Cape Elizabeth, fresh off a victory Saturday against Scarborough, a Class A power, finished the half with six goals in the final five minutes to take a 14-4 halftime lead.

“We talked before the game that we can’t live on our laurels,” said Perkins. “If we want to reach our goal, we can’t come out and have a lapse.

“I think we did well. We started out slow and then I think they looked at each other and said, ‘this is what Coach was talking about’ and then they took off.”

Bella Robinson added four goals, and Emily Spidle, Talley Perkins and Hannah Newhall had two each for the Capers. Abby McInerney, Liz Robinson and Caroline Kelly rounded out the goal scoring.

Janessa White registered six assists.

Mia Thomas, Alex Mitch and Jess Hench scored twice each for the Falcons. Katie Turner and Bethanie Knighton also scored.

“I think we played better in this game than we did last game (against Cape, a 15-7 loss on April 24),” said Freeport Coach Karin Kurry.

“But the score this time looks worse than last time. “We were making some connections and making some really pretty plays when we got the ball.”