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Boys’ lacrosse quarterfinals: Kennebunk, Cheverus, Gorham, Waynflete move on to semifinals
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Boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal: Gorham gets past Westbrook
The Rams score two late goals for a 12-11 victory.Grayson Post of Westbrook makes a diving but unsuccessful bid for a goal Wednesday night as Gorham goalie Carter Landry, who made 11 saves in a 12-11 victory, stands his ground.WESTBROOK — Gorham broke a 10-10 tie with two goals 12 seconds apart in the closing minutes and held on for a 12-11 win over Westbrook in the Western Class A boys’ lacrosse quarterfinals Wednesday night.
No. 5 Gorham (10-3) moves on to the semifinals Saturday at No. 1 South Portland (11-1). It will be their first meeting this season.
No. 4 Westbrook finishes at 9-4.
“Both teams played phenomenal lacrosse today and both goalies stood on their heads,” said Westbrook Coach Josh Plowman.
Indeed, both Gorham’s Carter Landry (11 saves) and Westbrook’s Alex Leblanc (10) made some point-blank shots to keep this game ultra-close.
Cam Wright paced Gorham with three goals and three assists. Westbrook’s Curtis Knapton recorded four goals and two assists.
“That was a great game,” Gorham defenseman Cody Rioux said. “Westbrook’s a great team. The last time (the teams played) we didn’t come out strong. We played a great 48 minutes today.”
When these two teams last met, May 18, Westbrook took a 4-0 lead on its way to a 9-7 win.
On Wednesday, Gorham jumped ahead 3-1 after 3:17.
“We knew if we didn’t start hot, it would be a difficult game for us,” Gorham Coach Dan Soule said. “We started hot and it still was a difficult game for us. But we persevered and made good decisions.”
Gorham led 10-9 when Knapton tied it, spinning away from three defenders and scoring with 3:35 left.
Gorham’s Wright passed to Alex York in front but Leblanc blocked the shot. The Blue Blazes tried to gather the loose ball and feed it back to Leblanc, but it got by for an own goal and an 11-10 Gorham lead with 2:42 left.
“That’s when you’d rather be a spectator than a coach,” Plowman said.
Gorham’s Michael Susi won the next faceoff, charged in and scored for a 12-10 lead with 2:30 remaining.
Westbrook missed three shots on its next possession. Gorham got the ball, but Susi had it stripped by Stephen Shackley. Westbrook rushed down. Knapton passed to Ryan Shackley, who scored, closing to 12-11 with 51 seconds left.
“I’m thinking this can go either way,” Susi said. “I’m thinking we really have to fight on this faceoff.”
Susi won the faceoff and the Rams played keep-away. Susi ran around for the last 17 seconds.
“I was winded but ran circles and managed to keep it in my stick,” Susi said.
Susi finished with two goals, as did York, Abraham Eaton and Tristan Brunet. Rioux led the defense with Mat Anderson and Ryan Hamblen.
Along with Knapton, Westbrook got two goals from John Tibbetts and Ryan Shackley. Noah Oliver, Tommy Kostopolous and Grayson Post each scored once.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve really grown,” said Plowman, in his sixth year. “We went from a team that competed for three or four wins to a playoff team four straight years. Our goal was to get that first playoff win. We came just short but we played a great opponent.”
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Boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal: Big second quarter propels Cheverus
The Stags score seven goals in the second quarter to upend Windham, 15-7.Windham’s Alec Emerson drives with the ball as Tom Lawson of Cheverus, left, and Fritz Gemmer move in during Wednesday’s Eastern Class A quarterfinal. Cheverus won, 15-7.Windham got the start it wanted. Cheverus got its finish.
The fourth-seeded Stags rallied twice in the first half Wednesday and surged to a 15-7 win over No. 5 Windham in an Eastern Class A quarterfinal Wednesday at Boulos Stadium.
Cheverus (8-5) won its sixth straight to advance to a regional semifinal against top-seed Brunswick on Saturday. The start time is yet to be determined. The Dragons advanced Tuesday night with a 21-4 win over No. 8 Mt. Ararat.
The Stags and Dragons met in the regional final in 2014, with Brunswick advancing to the state title game with a 9-8 win.
“That’s a great rivalry and that’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Tom Lawson, who led the Stags with four goals and two assists. “We’re going to practice really hard and play our game.”
Nick Schleh had three goals for the Stags. James Kane and Jesse Pierce had two each. Max Coffin and Alex Nason scored one each.
Griffin Jacobson led the Eagles with three goals. Bryce Rolfe, Zach Callahan, Ross Batcheldor and Brian Kelley also scored for Windham (8-5), which was making its first trip to the Eastern A tournament.
The Eagles took a 2-0 lead 1:14 into the game when they twice won the draw, and Jacobson and Rolfe (goal, two assists) finished off fast breaks.
“We did get the start we wanted, we just didn’t get the finish,” Windham Coach Pete Small said. “They did what we thought they would do and we handled it for a while. Our execution just wasn’t what we hoped it would be. They’re an excellent team and they executed.”
Cheverus tied the game on goals by Michael Hatch (7:30) and Lawson (6:10). The Eagles regained the lead, 3-2, with 2:29 left when Batcheldor finished a pass from Zach Hough (2 assists).
Cheverus then outscored Windham 7-1 in the second quarter for a 9-4 lead at the half.
“It took us a while to get settled in,” said Schleh, who scored twice in the second quarter. “They’re a strong team and they played great throughout. We just started to really click as a team.”
Keegan Thomas, Zordan Holman and Kiernan Conley led the Stags’ zone defense, riding out shooters and forcing mistakes.
“We were a little jumpy in the first quarter,” said Thomas, who gathered four ground balls, had two interceptions and repeatedly hammered cutters. “We just had to be patient. Let them work the ball around, don’t fall for their trickery. And take advantage of their mistakes.”
Sean Walsh made 14 saves for the Stags, including four big ones in the second quarter.
“Sean definitely bailed us out,” Thomas said. “It could have been 9-9 but he kept it at 9-4.”
Cheverus Coach Bill Bodwell pointed to the early play of Windham goalie Jacob Dionne (18 saves), who “made some really big saves in the first quarter. We got the feeling that eventually the shots were going to go in.”
And that early 2-0 deficit?
“We do have a good veteran group, they really like lacrosse and work hard at it,” he said. “They never lost faith.”
The Stags came out of halftime with four straight goals in the third, building a 13-4 lead before Jacobson got one back with 10 seconds left to make it 13-5 after three quarters. The teams each scored twice in the fourth.
Small was upbeat about the Eagles’ progress this season, improving from 4-8 in 2014.
“And those four wins, we barely won,” he said. “This year things started clicking. (Nine) of our starters are juniors so we have a lot coming back. They’re already asking what they can do to improve.”
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Boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal: Kennebunk prevails in overtime
The Rams score a sensational goal to make up for two losses against Greely.CUMBERLAND — Patric Murphy scored a sensational goal 28 seconds into overtime Wednesday to lift fifth-seeded Kennebunk to a 9-8 victory against fourth-ranked Greely in a Western Class B boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal at Hutchins Field.
Murphy picked up a loose ball in front of the Greely goal and while standing just outside the crease, flipped the ball over his left shoulder for the winner.
“I caught the ball and I just thought, ‘shoot it,’ ” Murphy said. “It was overtime and the first goal wins it.”
“He’s crafty and he’s a good player,” Coach Dan Seavey said. “He was in the right place at the right time and he wanted that goal.”
The Rams (7-6) will play at top-ranked Cape Elizabeth (10-2) in a semifinal Saturday.
Greely, which defeated Kennebunk twice in the regular season, took a 5-1 lead in the first 12 minutes.
“You never like to see a team for a third time,” Greely Coach Mike Storey said. “It’s a tough matchup.”
The Rangers (8-5) won 13-9 at Kennebunk on May 12 and 13-8 last week at Cumberland.
“They work from beginning to end,” Storey said. “They don’t ever give up on the game, and they keep grinding and keep grinding.”
Donovan Connor scored the early goal that kept Kennebunk in the game.
“Lacrosse is a game of momentum and they built it,” Storey said. “All the credit to (Kennebunk). They worked hard and I feel they outworked us today. They truly deserved that win.”
Patrick Gassman provided one key to victory, winning 15 of 20 faceoffs.
“He’s a great faceoff guy and we knew that going in,” Storey said. “We were planning on him winning the majority (of the faceoffs) so we lined up our (long) poles to meet him.”
Between them, the teams committed 65 turnovers. As a result, neither team could sustain momentum.
“We didn’t take care of the ball,” Storey said. “We started throwing the ball away. We didn’t possess the way we should and we let them start outworking us.”
Connor and Jack Boothby each scored three goals for the Rams. Gassman and Boden Beveridge each had a goal and an assist. Kyle Mooney also contributed an assist.
Mitchel Mullin scored two goals for the Rangers. Sam Peck, Gabe Belisle and Dillon Trelegan each scored a goal and had an assist. Chris Borden and Tim Adams each scored a goal.
Boothby and Connor scored in the last 21/2 minutes of regulation to make it 8-8 and force overtime.
“We had some ups and downs,” Seavey said. “Fortunately we came on strong in the second half. We made a few adjustments and we had an awesome finish at the end.”
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Wednesday’s boys’ roundup: Waynflete gets past Fryeburg Academy
Ford Malter scored six goals in the Flyers' 17-6 win.Ford Malter scored six goals Wednesday to lead third-seeded Waynflete to a 17-6 victory against sixth-ranked Fryeburg Academy in a Western Class B boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal.
Waynflete (10-3) will play Saturday at second-ranked Falmouth (9-3) in the semifinals.
Harry Baker-Connick added three goals and three assists, Hank Duvall had three goals and two assists, and Cooper Chap finished with two goals and an assist for Waynflete.
Joe Schrader had two goals and Malik Mobley made 15 saves for Fryeburg (6-7).
MESSALONSKEE 17, DEERING 7: The second-seeded Eagles (9-4) pulled away in the second half to elininate seventh-ranked Deering (4-9) in an Eastern Class A quarterfinal at Waterville.
Messalonskee will take on third-seeded Lewiston (11-2) in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Saturday at Thomas College in Waterville.
Dylan Jones scored four goals in the first quarter as Messalonskee opened a 7-1 lead. Deering then pulled within 7-4 on three goals by Nate Richards.
It was 8-4 at halftime after Will Weeks scored for Messalonskee with 2:10 remaining in the second quarter.
“We were starting to put them away in the first quarter and then we kind of settled in a little bit there,” Messalonskee Coach Tom Sheridan said. “We slowed things up too much out there, but I think we definitely came back in the third quarter and took control of the game.”
The teams traded goals to start the third, but Connor Smith’s goal with 8:01 to play in the quarter kicked off a stretch of seven unanswered goals for the Eagles.
“We’re trying to grow throughout the game and we came out with the result we wanted,” Jones said. “It’s a little bit of a fire starter almost into our next game. Hopefully we do one better than we did last year and we don’t let anyone get in our way. The goal is to get as far as we can, but you have to play to get there.”
Jones paced the Eagles with five goals and an assist, and Smith, despite drawing extra attention from the Rams’ defense, still scored three goals and assisted on two others. Weeks and Austin Pelletier each finished with two goals and two assists.
“Connor was marked up a little bit more than usual, so Jones was the open guy and that’s part of being an unselfish offense,” Sheridan said. “We’re willing to move it around.”
NORTH YARMOUTH ACADEMY 10, OAK HILL 6: Trevor Lachance scored six goals to lead the fourth-ranked Panthers (5-8) over fifth-seeded Oak Hill (5-8) in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal at Yarmouth.
NYA will be at top-ranked Maranacook/Winthrop at 4 p.m. Friday.
D.J. Nicholas had 20 saves for the Panthers, who led 5-1 at halftime.
YARMOUTH 18, WINSLOW 2: Will Garrett had four goals and three assists to lead second-ranked Yarmouth (10-3) over seventh-seeded Winslow (9-4) in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal at Yarmouth.
MARANACOOK/WINTHROP 14, MORSE 2: The top-ranked Hawks (11-2) scored eight straight goals in the second half and rolled past eighth-seeded Morse (7-7) in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal at Kents Hill.
Denver Cram, Ty Smith, Josh Murphy and Kyle Morand each scored three goals, and Bailey Clark and James Canwell also scored for Maranacook/Winthrop, which will play fourth-ranked North Yarmouth Academy (5-8) at 4 p.m. Friday.
“Everybody had a great game,” Stewart said. “I did not expect this type of game. I was expecting them to make some chances and that it would be a tight game.”
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