FREEPORT – Freeport’s girls’ lacrosse team took its fans on an emotional roller coaster ride Thursday in the Eastern Class B championship game.

First, the top-seeded Falcons rallied for four goals in the last 12 minutes of regulation to forge a 10-10 tie with No. 2 Yarmouth, the defending champion.

Then, Jess Hench and Jocelyn Davee sandwiched goals around a score by Yarmouth’s Jeanna Lowery in the first three-minute overtime as Freeport pulled out a 12-11 victory to capture its first regional title since the Maine Principals’ Association began sanctioning lacrosse playoffs in 1998.

The Falcons will play Waynflete for the state title at 10 a.m. Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

Freeport Coach Karin Kurry wasn’t surprised to see her team stage its late rally.

“We love to come from behind,” she said. “That’s the way this team likes to play. They like to come from behind and fight their way back. They’ve got great heart, and they were just going to give it their all.”

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During the regular season, the Falcons (8-6) rallied for a 10-9 win against York and a 12-11 victory against Greely.

“We don’t give up and we fight to the very end,” said Alex Mitch, who scored three goals. “When we’re down, we just can’t think about losing. We just think about how we’re going to come back.”

Both teams belong to the Western Maine Conference, but they didn’t play each other during the regular season.

“It took us awhile to get used to their style of play,” Kurry said. “We were not used to playing a team that was so intense. It took us a while to get used to that.”

Yarmouth (7-7) held a 9-5 lead with less than 12 minutes remaining in regulation before the Falcons made their move.

Mitch started the rally when she turned a feed from Jess Hench into a goal with 11:01 remaining.

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Hench spark the Falcons’ rally by winning seven of the last eight midfield draws.

“This was my last game at home, and I needed to do everything I could to help pull out the win for my team,” she said. “That was my job, and I just had to do it.”

Davee sandwiched her first two goals around a goal by Bethanie Knighton during a span of 2 minutes, 11 seconds as Freeport pulled into a tie with 2:15 left.

Yarmouth regained the lead with 1:25 left when Erica Pierce scored on a free-position shot, but Knighton got her second goal of the game on a free-position shot with 49.5 seconds remaining to make it 10-10.

Freeport goalie Molly Lane stopped a free-position shot by Olivia Conrad in the closing seconds of regulation to preserve the tie.

After Hench and Yarmouth’s Lowery exchanged goals, the Falcons took the lead for good when Davee’s free-position shot beat the buzzer at the end of the first three-minute overtime.

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Lane stopped Lowery’s free-position shot with 30 seconds left in the second overtime to preserve the win.

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

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH

 


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