FALMOUTH — It’s hard to overcome the heart and pride of Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ lacrosse team, but Friday evening, the talent of the Falmouth Yachtsmen did the trick.

In the only scheduled showdown this spring between the fierce rivals, the Yachtsmen rallied for a 14-8 win.

The Capers, despite two early losses and being down top attackman Tate Perkins, staggered the favored Yachtsmen with four straight goals to start the game.

But Henry Farnham scored five goals for Falmouth, which went on a 7-0 run (Cape Elizabeth couldn’t score for over 16 minutes) and pulled away to avenge last year’s regional final loss.

The Yachtsmen (5-0) beat Cape Elizabeth in Falmouth for the first time since 2012.

“It’s a great feeling,” Farnham said. “I’m really happy about it. We hunkered down on defense and that led to good offensive opportunities.”

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Ben Carroll opened the scoring just over three minutes in and Sam Dresser scored his first two goals, both unassisted, to give the Capers a 3-0 lead after one quarter.

Dresser scored his third goal, with 9:38 to play in the half, but he was hit hard on the play and had to leave the game.

The Yachtsmen came to life with 5:36 to go before halftime as Brendan Hickey, in transition, set up Tommy Fitzgerald for a shot that beat Capers goalie Jack Dresser.

Farnham scored for the first time 18 seconds later.

Finn Raymond answered for Cape Elizabeth, but with 53 seconds on the clock, Farnham again bulled through the defense to finish and pull Falmouth within 5-3 at the break.

The Yachtsmen then put on a clinic in the third quarter, scoring six unanswered goals to grab the lead.

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Kristian Valle and Farnham each scored unassisted to tie it and with 6:39 to go, Fitzgerald fed Lou Mainella for a man-up goal and a 6-5 advantage.

“The best thing is we didn’t point fingers,” said Falmouth Coach Dave Barton. “We had great senior leadership. Henry was the guy who got us going, then we moved the ball around.”

Before the period was over, while the Capers were going scoreless, Reilly Tucker, Fitzgerald and Farnham all scored to stretch the lead to 9-5.

Cape Elizabeth rallied early in the fourth as Killian Lathrop ended the drought and Jacob Brydson scored as well to cut the deficit to two, but Mainella restored momentum with a goal and Farnham scored for the final time.

After Lathrop pulled the Capers back within three, goals from Nick Farnham, Valle and Fitzgerald sealed the win.

“We knew this would be the game we found out how mentally tough we are,” Barton said. “We faced a lot of adversity. They’re not a 2-3 team. They’re still the team to beat. Until someone knocks them off, that’s what they are.”

In addition to Henry Farnham’s five goals, Fitzgerald scored three times with three assists and Mainella and Valle each had two goals. Kai Berry made five first-half saves and Ethan Chapman stopped four shots in the second half.

Cape Elizabeth got three goals from Dresser, a pair from Lathrop and 10 saves from Jack Dresser.

“We played pretty well in the first half,” said Capers Coach Ben Raymond. “We’re just trying to be a little more consistent. The kids are great. They understand the process. The difference in the game was probably losing Sam Dresser.”


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