YARMOUTH — Yarmouth High started the game strong, finished the first half stronger and cruised to a 14-5 win of Falmouth in the Class A North girls’ lacrosse final Wednesday afternoon.

The Clippers (12-3) set up a state final Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium between two teams that won state championships in 2021. Yarmouth won the Class B crown last season but moved up to Class A this year to seek a greater challenge. The Clippers figure to get that when they face defending champion Kennebunk (15-0), which has a 31-game winning streak.

Having two defending champions meet in a state final “is definitely a rare occurrence, but I think moving up to Class A has been a huge challenge for us to start,” said senior midfielder Katelyn D’Appolonia, “but we really grew into it and came together as a team and we’re really showing what we have.”

During a 2-3 start to the season, Yarmouth lost at home to Kennebunk, 11-3.

“We’re ready for the rematch. We’re a different team. We know they’re a different team. It should be awesome,” said D’Appolonia, who scored four goals and added two assists.

The victory was Coach Dorothy Holt’s 200th since taking over the program in 2005. She’s seeking her seventh state championship.

“It’s not about me. I don’t even care about 200 wins, frankly. I care about what my team did today,” Holt said. “What my team did today was show 200 percent. Two hundred percent of getting ground balls. Two hundred percent of being gritty. Keeping the intensity up 200 percent all the way through the end of the game.”

Sophomore midfielder Aine Powers, who also recorded four goals, scored twice in the first 3:09. The Clippers built a 4-1 lead on player-up goals by Sadie Carnes and a quick right-to-left fake and score by D’Appolonia, who will play next year at the University of Colorado.

“I think we all felt like we needed to come out strong and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Powers said.

After Falmouth’s Adelaide Tolley scored while the Navigators were still a player down, there was a five-minute stretch without a goal – in large part because of Falmouth goalie Patty Riley (16 saves), who stopped two 1-on-1 free-position shots in that span.

But second-seeded Falmouth (11-4) was unable to capitalize or even maintain consistent possession against a strong Yarmouth defense, backed by senior goalie Juliet Meas (seven saves).

“We just couldn’t get that spark to ignite more of a fire unfortunately,” said Falmouth Coach Ashley Pullen. “Lots of credit to Patty. She made a lot of incredible saves today.”

Falmouth again played without standout junior midfielder Sloane Ginevan, who suffered a knee injury late in the regular season.

Over the final 13:33 of the first half, Yarmouth outscored Falmouth 6-1, with goals from six players: Neena Panozzo, D’Appolonia and Lauren Kenney on free-position takes where they pushed the ball deeper before shooting, and also Clancy Walsh, Carnes and finally Powers with 37 seconds left in the half.

Kenney finished with two goals.

Whitney Adams, Peaches Stucker (two assists), Maeve Ginevan, Tolley and Molly Scribner scored goals for Falmouth.

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