FALMOUTH — Kennebunk’s 12-player junior class doesn’t know what it’s like to not play in a regional final, as those dozen Rams competed for the Western Maine title in both their freshmen and sophomore years.

But now those juniors, as well as the rest of the players on the Kennebunk roster, know what it feels like to finally win the regional title, as the Rams reversed their fortunes of recent years with a 9-7 victory over Falmouth in the Western Maine Class B girls lacrosse regional title game Wednesday.

The second-seeded Rams lost heart-breaking one-goal games against Massabesic in 2013 and Cape Elizabeth last year to deny Kennebunk from playing for the state championship. With those losses in mind this year, the Rams did everything they could to get back to the regional final.

Their opponent, the No. 1 seed Yachtsmen, was the lone team to beat Kennebunk on its quest for redemption. According to junior attacker Kyra Schwartzman, that made the elusive victory even sweeter.

“It feels amazing. We’ve been pushing for this all season long, and all season long this has been our goal, to make it to the Western Maine final and win and go onto states. We really, really channeled how we felt after the losses the past two years, and took that frustration and that anger and put it into this game,” said Schwartzman. “We lost to Falmouth in the regular season, and so this game was even bigger. It was redemption for us.”

The motivated Rams opened the game with fire in their eyes, opening up a 4-0 lead less than four minutes in.

Jenny Bush won the opening draw of the game, took the ball into the attacking zone and drew a free-position shot. The junior was successful on the attempt, putting the Rams on the board just 33 seconds in.

Schwartzman scored less than a minute later, then assisted on Liv Sandford’s goal 2:10 in, forcing Falmouth to call a timeout.

“Just the fast movement of the ball, they couldn’t defend it,” Kennebunk coach Annie Barker said of her team’s fast start.

Bush scored off a Carly Sandler pass to make it 4-0 Rams before Falmouth finally broke Kennebunk’s game-opening run on a goal by Olivia Stucker 5:46 in.

Kennebunk responded with a goal by Schwartzman, then another free-position goal from Bush to go up 6-1.

“A lot of it is the chemistry that our team has,” Schwartzman said the offense’s early success. “Jenny, Liv and I, Carly, we’ve all been playing since we were in sixth grade together. The chemistry that we have, the way that we love each other and we work together is really I think what that all came down to.”

Falmouth fought back as the first half wore on, getting a free-position goal by Sydney Bell and a goal by Leigh Bernardy on a feed from Stucker to draw within 6-3 with just over 10 minutes left before halftime.

Sandford scored from Schwartzman with four minutes left, but Bernardy responded 2:30 later to make it 7-4 Kennebunk heading into halftime. The Rams had a chance to score with the clock winding down but missed on a pair of shots late.

Like in the first half, the Rams came out firing after halftime, getting goals by Sandford and Schwartzman in the first four minutes to increase the lead to five again.

But both Barker and Schwartzman admitted even a five-goal lead wasn’t comfortable.

“It’s never enough,” said Schwartzman. “We’ve been down before, we’ve been down by five, and we know how easy it is to come back by that deficit. It wasn’t enough for us.”

“They’re dangerous. They’re really dangerous,” Barker said of the Yachtsmen, who methodically cut the deficit down to two.

Falmouth called a timeout with just under 14 minutes left and still down 9-4. Lizzie Goodrich started the rally five minutes later, then Stucker and Bell added goals of their own to make it 9-7 with just over five minutes left.

Falmouth won the ensuing draw but wasn’t able to put a shot on goal. Sandford picked off a Falmouth pass with just over four minutes left, which started a four-minute long possession for Kennebunk which ran out the clock until the final seconds of the game.

The Rams passed the ball around the offensive zone, with a Falmouth offsides penalty prolonging the Kennebunk keep-away.

“We practice it every day. It’s always in our game plan every, single day,” Barker said of the stall tactic. “You got to perfect it at the end if you’re going to get this far. You’re eventually going to have to stall.”

“That’s something that coach has stressed all season, is that if it comes down to that we need to be ready, we need to stay focused, we need to be able to stay calm in our heads even when the game is going 10,000 miles (per hour) around us,” said Schwartzman. “We all have amazing stick skills, and that’s just kind of what it boiled down to ”“ the focus and the determination to win.”

As the clock struck zeroes, the Kennebunk players ran to goalie Bella Kudas ”“ one of the 12 juniors ”“ in celebration. Kudas made six saves, including four important stops during Falmouth’s second-half surge.

Juniors Schwartzman, Bush and Sandford each scored three goals, with Schwartzman adding three assists. Fellow junior Sandler assisted on two goals.

“Those juniors have been here for three years, so they were like ”˜we’re done with that. It’s behind us. We’re moving forward,’” said Barker.

Now with the regional final in the rearview mirror, Kennebunk advances to the state championship against Eastern Maine champion Yarmouth at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland Saturday. The Clippers are the defending Class B state champions. The Rams beat Yarmouth during the regular season, but Barker said she knows that doesn’t have much bearing on Saturday’s rematch.

“It will be a battle, I think,” said Barker. “But I think we’re prepared, and we’re running on all cylinders now, I think. (The players) want it, so I think that might just get it for them.”

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.