BOX SCORE

Yarmouth 17 Freeport 6

Y- 8 9- 17
F- 2 4- 6

First half
23:17 Y Lowenstein (Teare)
21:17 F Groves (Whittier)
21:03 Y Lowenstein (Powers)
13:03 Y Lowenstein (unassisted)
10:07 Y Bergeron (Lowenstein)
8:17 Y Lowenstein (Powers)
6:20 Y Teare (Bergeron)
3:43 Y D’Appolonia (Lowenstein)
3:28 F S. Tracy (unassisted)
1:24 Y D’Appolonia (Powers)

Second half
21:34 Y Thornton (D’Appolonia)
20:57 F Driscoll (Whittier)
20:18 Y D’Appolonia (Teare)
19:54 Y Powers (Bergeron)
19:18 F S. Tracy (Driscoll)
17:27 Y Thornton (D’Appolonia)
16:58 Y Lowenstein (unassisted)
16:44 Y Lowenstein (Bergeron)
14:24 Y D’Appolonia (free position)
12:47 Y D’Appolonia (unassisted)
8:26 F K. Tracy (Groves)
4:48 Y D’Appolonia (Powers)
1:17 F S. Tracy (unassisted)

Goals:
Y- D’Appolonia, Lowenstein 6, Thornton 2, Bergeron, Powers, Teare 1
F- S. Tracy 3, Driscoll, Groves, K. Tracy 1

Assists:
Y- Powers 4, Bergeron 3, D’Appolonia, Lowenstein, Teare 2
F- Whittier 2, Driscoll 1

Draws (Yarmouth, 17-8)
Y- Thornton 8 of 12, D’Appolonia 4 of 7, Lowenstein 5 of 6
F- S. Tracy 6 of 19, Groves 1 of 5, K. Tracy 1 of 1

Ground balls:
Y- 42
F- 38

Turnovers:
Y- 23
F- 19

Shots:
Y- 26
F- 19

Shots on cage:
Y- 22
F- 14

Saves:
Y (Meas) 8
F (Williams) 5

FREEPORT—Moments before the start of Tuesday afternoon’s girls’ lacrosse contest between Yarmouth and Freeport at Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field, a falcon appeared in the sky.

Some thought that was an omen for the host Falcons, but in reality, it would be the visiting Clippers who soared above the competition.

Again.

Yarmouth, which looks more and more like a championship team the closer we get to the postseason, broke open a low-scoring, close game with a flurry late in the first half and never looked back.

After senior Annie Lowenstein sandwiched a pair of goals around one from Freeport senior captain Hannah Groves, the score remained 2-1 for several minutes before the Clippers roared to life, getting a third goal from Lowenstein, one from sophomore Annie Bergeron, a fourth from Lowenstein and then tallies from senior Natalie Teare and junior Katelyn D’Appolonia to open it up.

Late in the first half, Falcons junior captain Savannah Tracy answered, but D’Appolonia scored for the second time to make it 8-2 at halftime.

Yarmouth didn’t let up in the second half either, as senior Anna Thornton scored early and after junior Megan Driscoll scored for Freeport, D’Appolonia and freshman Aine Powers answered to make it 11-3.

Tracy scored a second goal for the hosts, but Thornton scored a goal, followed by two apiece from Lowenstein and D’Appolonia to bring about the mercy rule running clock. Down the stretch, sophomore Kate Tracy and Savannah Tracy scored goals for the Falcons before D’Appolonia scored one final time for the Clippers to produce a most impressive 17-6 victory.

D’Appolonia and Lowenstein each erupted for six goals and Yarmouth won its ninth game in succession, improved to 10-1 and in the process, ended the Falcons’ fine regular season at 9-3.

“We just came out strong,” D’Appolonia said. “Freeport’s always a good team to play. We just wanted to play our game and we prevailed.”

The favorites

Freeport and Yarmouth project to be the top seeds in their respective class and both teams have enjoyed a lot of success during the regular season.

The Clippers began by sandwiching wins at Cape Elizabeth (9-3) and Waynflete (8-5) around a 10-8 setback at Kennebunk. After downing visiting Greely (13-6), the Clippers won at Massabesic (13-8) and defeated visiting Brunswick, 16-1, then held on for a thrilling 12-10 home victory over two-time reigning Class A champion Falmouth before edging host Greely, 11-9, downing visiting North Yarmouth Academy, 14-5, then defeating visiting Cape Elizabeth Friday on Senior Night, 13-5.

After opening with a 13-8 home victory over Lake Region, Freeport didn’t play a countable game for three weeks before winning at Gray-New Gloucester (18-5), Maranacook (9-4) and Lake Region (11-9). The Falcons then returned home and handled visiting St. Dom’s, 19-7, lost to visiting Cape Elizabeth (9-8), then knocked off visiting Waynflete (9-6) and Morse (16-3), prevailed at NYA (13-10) and St. Dom’s (19-5) and Friday fell at Greely, 12-6.

The teams last met April 23, 2019, a 14-7 home win for Yarmouth.

Tuesday, on a beautiful 73-degree afternoon, Freeport sought its first win over the Clippers since the 2012 Eastern B Final, but instead, Yarmouth continued to demonstrate why its balance and unselfishness makes it close to unbeatable.

The Clippers went on top with 23:17 to play in the first half, as Teare fed Lowenstein for her first goal.

The Falcons answered two minutes later, as junior Ellie Whittier found Groves in front and Groves beat Yarmouth junior goalie Juliet Meas to tie it.

But off the ensuing draw, Powers got the ball to Lowenstein, who beat Freeport sophomore goalie Piper Williams with 21:03 on the clock, and the Clippers had the lead for good.

After Meas preserved the advantage by saving shots from senior Meredith Feller and Driscoll, Lowenstein hit the post and Lowenstein, D’Appolonia and Powers had shots saved by Williams, but with 13:03 remaining in the half, Lowenstein pounced on a rebound and fired it home to spark a five-goals-in-10-minutes spurt.

With 10:07 left before halftime, Yarmouth’s “Annie Connection” produced another goal, as this time Lowenstein set up Bergeron.

Freeport coach Marcia Wood tried calling timeout to stem the tide, but it didn’t help, as Powers set up Lowenstein for her fourth goal with 8:17 remaining and after Meas saved Kate Tracy’s free position shot at one end, Bergeron assisted on Teare’s goal at the other for a 6-1 lead.

After Meas made another save, on a Groves shot, D’Appolonia scored her first goal, from Lowenstein, with 3:43 on the clock.

“That’s what we worked on all day yesterday is patience on attack and moving the ball,” said longtime Yarmouth coach Dorothy Holt. “Every goal should have an assist.”

Savannah Tracy snapped a 13-minute, 49-second drought by scoring unassisted after a nice fake 15 seconds later, but with 1:24 remaining in the half, Powers set up D’Appolonia for an 8-2 advantage.

The Clippers were even stronger in the second half.

Driscoll started the half by hitting the post and at the other end, D’Appolonia found Thornton for her first goal with 21:34 to play.

Just 37 seconds later, in transition after a turnover, Whittier found Driscoll for a goal to cut the Yarmouth lead to 9-3, but with 20:18 left, Teare assisted on a D’Appolonia goal and 24 seconds later, after Bergeron forced a turnover, she set up Powers for an 11-3 lead.

Savannah Tracy scored (from Driscoll) with 19:18 to play, but after Thornton hit the post on a free position, she finished a feed from D’Appolonia with 17:27 remaining.

A mere 29 seconds later, Lowenstein scored unassisted, then Lowenstein won the ensuing draw with one hand, passed to Bergeron, then got the ball back and finished to make it 14-4 with 16:44 on the clock.

D’Appolonia then scored twice in succession, on a free position with 14;24 left and unassisted with 12:47 on the clock, when her attempted pass somehow got through and found the net.

Down the stretch, Kate Tracy scored for Freeport (from Groves) with 8:26 left and after D’Appolonia scored the final Clippers’ goal, from Powers with 4:48 remaining, Savannah Tracy scored unassisted with 1:17 on the clock and Yarmouth went on to a 17-6 victory.

“I thought it would be a lot closer, so I’m very proud of the girls,” Holt said. “We had a slow start. Freeport’s a good team, they’re speedy. It was good for us to have to re-set. Juliet came up with key saves at the right times and that fired the girls up. They’re playing like every game means something and in a pandemic season, it does. They love playing for each other.”

The Clippers’ offense was sparked by six goals apiece from the unstoppable D’Appolonia and Lowenstein. Thornton added two goals, while Bergeron, Powers and Teare all tickled the twine once.

Powers also had four assists, while Bergeron added three and D’Appolonia, Lowenstein and Teare contributed two apiece, for a total of 13 on the day.

“We’ve been working on connecting our passes more, not just in the final third, but in transition and from the clear,” said D’Appolonia. “That allows us to push the ball forward and get good shots and smart shots.”

“To create a goal, you have to create space and that’s what we’re doing,” Holt said. “Anna and Natalie are consistent with their feeds. That all plays a part.”

Meas made eight saves.

Yarmouth had a 17-8 edge in draws (D’Appolonia, Lowenstein and Thornton all excelled), a 42-38 edge in ground balls (D’Appolonia had a team-high nine and Thornton collected seven), a 26-19 shots advantage (22-14 on cage) and overcame 23 turnovers.

For Freeport, Savannah Tracy scored three goals while Driscoll, Groves and Kate Tracy all added one.

Whittier had two assists and Driscoll one.

Savannah Tracy had a game-high 12 ground balls, while Kate Tracy collected eight.

Williams made five saves.

The Falcons committed 19 turnovers.

“I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I hoped it would be a lot closer,” Wood said. “I was optimistic when there was a low score to start, but unfortunately, we don’t have the stamina to hang the whole game. We have spurts of good stuff, but it’s not enough. Our goal was to keep possession, but we started to play frantic when we got down. We needed to limit their scoring and with turnovers, we were our own worst enemy at times.

“I thought (junior) Riley Simon played a great game on defense. She’s not a flashy player, but she’s consistent and she makes things happen. She knocked down a lot of balls, but we couldn’t pick up the ground ball.”

It’s almost time

Freeport’s regular season is complete and now, the Falcons will look to prove that they’re the top team in Class C.

“We still haven’t put together a whole game, so hopefully this gets the girls motivated to do the work we need to do for playoffs,” Wood said. “I’m glad we ended up with two tough teams to get us ready. We need to refocus and stay intense. Having the top seed is great. Teams will be gunning for us. It’s the coaches I’m worried about. I don’t want to see (Waynflete’s) Cathie (Connors) or (NYA’s) Julia (Sterling). They’re legends. Cathie just gets her team going in the postseason. Julia will have NYA ready.

“We’re hoping to write our own story this year with a happier ending.”

Yarmouth, meanwhile, has one more game, as it closes Thursday at home versus York. Then, the Clippers will look to capture a state title that has eluded them since 2015.

“I feel like we still have a long way to go,” D’Appolonia said. “There are only a few weeks left and we’re getting excited for our final games. We love having homefield advantage, especially since we didn’t get to play on our turf at the beginning of the year. We just have to keep coming up strong. We may play teams we haven’t played before. We have to keep playing our game. We’ve having a lot of fun. We want to keep it going.”

“We’re playing as a team and it’s fun to watch,” said Holt. “We still have things to improve on and work to do. We get so rushed sometimes, especially on transition, when we don’t need to. We have to get rid of first half jitters. We’ll be off for a week and that’s not a comforting place to be, but we’ll figure it out.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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