WINDHAM — Windham boys’ lacrosse coach Pete Small didn’t know what to expect going into Wednesday’s Class A North quarterfinal game against Bangor. After all, the teams hadn’t met or shared any common opponents throughout the regular season.

But the third-seeded Eagles proved they could adapt to the unknown, rolling past No. 6 Bangor 18-7 to end the Rams’ inaugural season as a varsity program. Windham (11-2), however, will face a much more familiar opponent in No. 2 Portland (11-1) in the semifinals. The team split two games during the regular season.

“These kids adjusted. When they see something, they know what to do, so that lacrosse IQ was huge for us,” Small said. “This win gives us a lot of confidence, but we know what’s in front of us and that we have a tough test ahead.”

Windham got goals from eight players, with Tyler Woolston and Holden Anderson scoring four apiece. Sophomore goalkeeper Ben Elliott finished with nine saves and Logan Douglas anchored the defense.

Jonny Lyon and David Brown led the Rams (9-4) with two goals each.

“I mean, we didn’t get the result we wanted, but we’re very proud that we made it into the playoffs in our first year in varsity,” Bangor Coach Michael Keim said. “I don’t think a lot of people expected us to make it, and we proved them wrong – I’m very happy with that.”

The Eagles jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter and stayed comfortably ahead. Seth Wall kicked off the scoring after he intercepted a pass 1:42 into the game. Nazari Henderson, Matt Babb, Woolston and Thomas Lekousi scored for Windham in the first quarter before Bangor’s Reid Higgs snapped the Eagles’ run with a goal from Jacob Henry with 21.7 seconds left.

Anderson – a freshman – needed 19 seconds to score his first of three second-quarter goals for Windham, but David Brown answered or Bangor 16 seconds later on the ensuing faceoff.

With Windham leading 6-2, Anderson then kicked off a four-goal run with a goal from Woolston before Woolston scored from Lekousi with 5:52 left in the half. Woolston then assisted on a Travis Brown goal before Anderson rounded out the scoring for the half with 1:57 left.

“We weren’t communicating enough on defense, we weren’t connecting enough on offense, and we forced too many passes,” Keim said. “The better team won today, and they’re going to have great success in the future.”

Lyon scored for Bangor at the buzzer to cut Windham’s lead to 10-3 entering halftime, but Woolston and Lekousi scored to make it 12-3 with 8:37 left in the third.

David Brown and Nason Vassiliev strung together a pair of goals for Bangor before Andrei Voinea, Lekousi and Travis Brown put Windham up 15-5 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth, Jacob Henry and Lyon scored for Bangor and Woolston, Babb and Anderson scored for Windham.

“We’re really excited to play Portland again – we’ve had some challenges against them, but we also had a really good game against them,” Woolston said. “I think the most important thing for us to do is just stick to our game.”

Taylor Vortherms can be contacted at 791-6417 or

tvortherms@pressherald.com

Twitter: TaylorVortherms