KENNEBUNK — On a day that two Kennebunk High girls’ lacrosse standouts passed milestones, the defense took the spotlight Wednesday in an 8-3 victory against Falmouth to win the Class B South title.

Kennebunk (14-0) advanced to the state championship game against Yarmouth (12-3) at 10 a.m. Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

The Rams limited the Yachtsmen (12-2) to eight shots and held midfielder Sydney Bell, who scored 71 goals this year, to one goal off a free position.

“Our defense is amazing,” said Kennebunk captain Jenny Bush. “They limited them to almost no shots today, which you never see in a lacrosse game. I really give it up to the defense for playing such an amazing game.”

Highlighting the effort were Elizabeth Cain and Molly Davis, who shared duties face-guarding Bell and never let her settle in.

“Both girls worked all week face-guarding, and we couldn’t be happier with how they played,” said Bush.

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“It’s really impressive – as a goal scorer, I know how hard it is to shoot when someone marks me tight like that. What they were doing was really amazing.”

Added fellow senior captain Kyra Schwartzman: “I couldn’t be more proud. We’ve had a really strong defensive focus and it’s kept us going for so long this season – how hard the defense plays and how talented they are, and how they don’t want to get beat out for any balls.

“It makes it hard on a goal scorer. Our goal was to try and shut her down, and those girls did a great job at kind of making sure she couldn’t get open.”

A methodical offense by Kennebunk that was built on hanging onto the ball and not necessarily getting as many shots as possible also helped limit the chances for Falmouth.

“We wanted to possess the ball and wait for the good shots,” said Kennebunk Coach Annie Barker. “Just be patient.

“If we had the ball, they couldn’t do anything with it. If we just throw the ball at the cage and she makes a save, then they have possession and they’re dangerous if they have possession.”

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Bush finished with three goals and Schwartzman had two. Both passed 200 career points.

“Considering we’ve had five, six, seven people scoring in a game, it’s a pretty amazing number,” said Barker.

“They all share. Nobody is a ball hog. They all work together really, really well.”

Carly Sandler added a goal and two assists, Gabby Fogg and Erin Gorton also scored, and Olivia Sandford registered a pair of assists for Kennebunk.

Isabelle Kudas turned away five shots to help send the Rams back to the state title game.

For Falmouth, Olivia Stucker, Christina Oaks and Bell scored, and London Bernier chipped in a pair of assists.

Kennebunk has played Yarmouth – which won the North championship Wednesday by beating Morse – on May 24 at home and came away with a 9-5 victory.


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