YARMOUTH — Pushed to the brink, Yarmouth High’s boys’ lacrosse team showed its championship mettle in the final crucial minutes to beat York, 11-9, in a Class B semifinal Wednesday night.
York, the No. 3 seed, had cut a four-goal lead to 9-8 when Jake Anastos scored his fourth goal of the game with 7:22 left.
Second-seeded Yarmouth responded with a pair of goals. Aksel Yeo, who had been held scoreless, deposited a crisp shot off a Steve Fulton assist. Then Peter Psyhogeos, held in check since the first quarter, scored his second of the game.
Yarmouth goalie Eddie Kim made four fourth-quarter saves and faceoff specialist Jaxson Dauphinee, with extra help from long-stick midfielder Cam Miller, had a 4-1 edge in faceoffs down the stretch.
Yarmouth (13-2) will try to defend its Class B title Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium against No. 4 Brunswick, which beat No. 1 Messalonskee, 14-11, in the other semifinal.
York (13-2), which beat Yarmouth early in the season, finishes one win shy of its first appearance in a state final.
Yarmouth started fast behind the scoring of Killian Marsh and Colter Olson, who both finished with four goals, The Clippers led 5-2 after one quarter.
It was 9-5 midway through the third, but York, which struggled early with turnovers, scored three straight goals – two by Anastos bracketing a goal by Haydn Forbes.
After Yarmouth regained some breathing room, Kevin Burke (three goals) scored for York to make it 11-9 with 1:24 remaining. Yarmouth won the draw and was able to run out the clock.
BRUNSWICK 14, MESSALONSKEE 11: The fourth-seeded Dragons (11-4) broke an 8-8 deadlock with a 5-1 run in the second half on the way to a Class B semifinal win over the top-seeded Eagles (13-2) in Oakland.
Messalonskee scored first on a shot from Walter Fegel just 1:19 into the game, then responded to a Thomas Labbe goal with a goal from Brady Brunelle midway through the opening quarter. Brunswick then scored the next three – two by Labbe and one by Zach Stern-Hayes.
Messalonskee answered with three straight of its own, by Brunelle, Brady Doucette and Rhys Bridges. Brunswick tied it on Stern-Hayes’ second goal before Nick Marro scored with 57 seconds left in the half to give the Dragons a 6-5 lead at the break.
Brunswick eventually broke it open with its 5-1 run to take a 13-9 lead with just over two minutes to play. Messalonskee got a pair of goals from Hegel, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Dragons from advancing to the state final Saturday against No. 2 Yarmouth, the reigning state champion.
Labbe and Stern-Hayes each finished with four goals for Brunswick, which also got two goals from Marro, Albert Putnam and Max Rudgers.
Bridges and Fegel paced Messalonskee with three goals apiece.
GIRLS’ LACROSSE
YORK 18, BRUNSWICK 10: Rose Pavuk and Clara Pavuk combined for nine goals and seven assists as the fourth-seeded Wildcats (10-4) beat the ninth-seeded Dragons (7-8) in a Class B semifinal in York.
York also got two goals apiece from Abby Armil, Lexi Bardwell and Ella Boissonneault as it advanced to face No. 2 Greely in Saturday’s state final.
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