FALMOUTH – Top-seeded Falmouth shook off the rust and rolled to a 13-1 win against No. 4 York in a Western Class B boys’ lacrosse semifinal Saturday afternoon.

The victory put the defending state champions into Wednesday’s regional final against the winner of Saturday night’s Greely-Cape Elizabeth game.

The defending state champions hadn’t played since May 30, and it took some time for their offense to get untracked.

“In practice, you’re not really scrimmaging a lot. You’re breaking down skills and individual pieces of the game, so a lot of scrimmaging really doesn’t come into play,” Falmouth Coach Mike LeBel said. “We just needed to knock off a little of the rust in the first half. Once we did that, we got it rolling.”

The Yachtsmen (12-1) held a 6-1 lead at the end of the first half, but the game was closer than the score indicated.

Falmouth finished each of the first two quarters with a rush to open a sizeable lead.

With 1:19 left in the first quarter, Will Sipperly finished a run down the left side by sending a shot into the far corner to snap a 1-1 tie. With 36.6 left, Jack Cooleen turned a long pass from Charlie Fay into a goal.

Sipperly scored his second goal of the game less than four minutes into the second quarter to make it 4-1, but Mitch Tapley scored two goals in the final 18.5 seconds of the period to send the Yachtsmen into their five-goal lead.

“I think the York team played their absolute hearts out for the first quarter of the game especially, and maybe the first half of the second quarter, and then we started to crumble.” York Coach Nate Davis said.

“Falmouth has more depth than us. It’s a growing process, and we’re looking forward to competing with them for all four quarters, not just a quarter and half.”

Falmouth goalie Cam Bell made six of his seven saves during the first half to keep the Wildcats (8-6) from posing a threat.

“Cam Bell played outstanding,” LeBel said. “It was one of his best games. He stopped a lot of point-blank shots and without him we’re not in it in the first half. I think (the game) is a lot closer. He allowed us to really get back into things.”

York’s Kyle Robinson opened the scoring 8:44 into the first quarter.

Tapley led the Yachtsmen with four goals and two assists. Fay followed with three goals and an assist. Cooleen scored two goals and had an assist. Hunter Lafond and Andrew Murray each scored a goal.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH