CAPE ELIZABETH—Keegan Lathrop was sick and tired of hearing about last year’s home loss to Yarmouth.

So Friday afternoon at Hannaford Field, Lathrop made sure he and his two-time defending Class A champion Cape Elizabeth boys’ lacrosse team would enjoy a different fate.

Once again, the underdog Clippers came to town with nothing to lose and played with confidence, getting four first half goals from senior standout Killian Marsh to hold a 5-4 lead at the break.

But this time, they weren’t able to complete the upset.

After senior Nate Patterson and junior Bobby Offit scored third period goals to put the Capers ahead, Lathrop scored the biggest goal of the game, as time expired, and Cape Elizabeth took a 7-5 advantage to the final stanza.

There, after goals from senior Alex van Huystee and junior Sam Cochran extended the lead, Lathrop scored twice more to end all doubt and the Capers went on to an 11-6 victory.

Cape Elizabeth got goals from six different players, outscored Yarmouth, 6-1, in the second half and improved to 3-0 on the young season, dropping the Clippers to 1-1 in the process.

“I heard a lot about last year’s loss because I play out-of-state club lacrosse with (Yarmouth junior standout) Colter Olson, so coming in, I really wanted to win this,” said Lathrop, who has verbally committed to playing college lacrosse at the University of Delaware. “It was a very competitive atmosphere out here today.”

Longtime rivals

Cape Elizabeth, which has had no peer in Class A the past two seasons, handled Falmouth last year to repeat, and is up to its usual tricks this spring, opening with a 10-6 home win over South Portland before downing host Gorham, 13-2.

Yarmouth fell a goal shy of a three-peat in Class B last season and opened with a 21-6 victory at Gray-New Gloucester last week.

Last spring, the teams split, as Cape Elizabeth rolled at Yarmouth, 14-5, then the Clippers shocked the host Capers, 18-16, ending their 22-game win streak in the process. Marsh had six goals in that one, while Olson added four goals.

Cape Elizabeth held a 33-15 advantage in the series dating to the start of the 2002 season (see sidebar, below)

Friday, on a chilly (48 degrees) but sunny afternoon, the ancient foes produced an entertaining early-season contest, one with a familiar result.

Both goalies stood tall early, as Capers junior Michael Foley saved a shot from Marsh, while Yarmouth freshman Will Redfield denied Lathrop.

With 9:36 to go in the first period, Marsh broke the ice with an unassisted goal and he was just getting started.

A minute later, senior Owen Redfield was sent off for slashing and Cape Elizabeth took advantage man-up, as after Will Redfield denied Offit, Offit took a pass from van Huystee and finished to tie the score with 8:07 on the clock.

A mere 49 seconds later, the Capers went ahead for the first time, on an unassisted goal from Cochran.

After killing off a couple penalties, the Clippers closed the opening period strong, as with 2:03 to go, freshman Colton McCann scored an unassisted goal to make it 2-2.

Early in the second quarter, Yarmouth went man-up and Marsh took a pass from senior Aksel Yeo and scored the go-ahead goal.

After Foley robbed Yeo’s bid to extend the lead, Cape Elizabeth drew even with 7:24 to play in the half, as Lathrop scored for the first time, unassisted.

Marsh then put the Clippers ahead again with 6:09 remaining, somehow shaking off a defender who was smothering him, then beating Foley to make it 4-3.

Foley didn’t allow Yarmouth to extend its lead, as he denied both Marsh and McCann before robbing Olson on the doorstep.

With 1:28 left before the break, junior Tom Hennessey scored on the run to pull the Capers even again, but with 35.1 seconds showing, Marsh somehow fought through three defenders before scoring and after Will Redfield robbed Cochran in the waning seconds, the Clippers clung to a 5-4 halftime advantage.

Yarmouth began the second half with the ball, man-up, but couldn’t muster a shot and the field began to tilt Cape Elizabeth’s way.

Initially, Redfield held the Capers off, saving shots from Cochran, Lathrop and Offit while Lathrop also hit the post.

But with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter, Patterson, a defensive standout bound for Bryant University in Rhode Island next year, took advantage of an opportunity to play offense and finished unassisted to tie the game.

The Clippers had a chance to counter man-up, but Marsh was robbed by Foley.

Then, with 2:59 to go, in transition, Patterson fed Offit for a goal and Cape Elizabeth was on top to stay.

After Redfield saved shots from Hennessey and Lathrop, it appeared it would remain a one-goal game heading to the fourth period, but in the biggest sequence of the contest, Yarmouth turned the ball over as time wound down, Offit passed to Lathrop and Lathrop fired a shot into the net at the horn.

“I knew there was a little bit of time because I was wondering why Bobby didn’t shoot,” said Lathrop. “He passed it to me and I knew I had to shoot it. Their goalie wasn’t in a good position, so I had an easy job putting it in the net. I wasn’t sure about the time. I didn’t think it counted, then I saw the ref put his hands up. Yarmouth was still fighting, but you could see they were starting to fall apart.”

“I had no idea how much time was left, but I think as long as gets it off, it’s fine, it doesn’t have to be over the goal line,” longtime Cape Elizabeth coach Ben Raymond said. “They did a decent job on (Keegan). He’s just a great shooter. He doesn’t need a lot of space. He has a quick shot. You can focus your attention on him, but he’s going to get open at some point. Other guys will beat their man and someone’s going to have to slide.”

The Clippers hoped to answer early in the fourth, but Yeo hit the post.

Then, with 9:45 left, van Huystee fought his way through the defense before scoring unassisted to make it 8-5.

With 6:08 on the clock, Yarmouth finally snapped an 18 minute, 27 second scoring drought, as McCann scored unassisted, but the visitors wouldn’t score again.

Cape Elizabeth then brought the curtain down with a dizzying flurry of goals.

With 3:43 remaining, van Huystee set up Cochran for a shot that Redfield couldn’t stop.

After junior Will Picarillo, who has done a tremendous job in the faceoff circle in the early going, won possession, Lathrop scored unassisted 12 seconds later.

Then, with 3:11 to go, Lathrop scored one final time, again unassisted, this time through a screen.

The Capers shut the door from there and prevailed, 11-6.

“This week has been great,” Raymond said. “I didn’t realize we’d have real games this week and non-countable games. I was a little angry that we were down some guys, but then I realized it’s vacation and it gave other guys a great opportunity to play and get experience. We’ve had to do different things we wouldn’t have faced.”

Lathrop paced Cape Elizabeth’s offense with four goals. Cochran and Offit both added a pair, while Hennessey, Patterson and van Huystee had one apiece.

Van Huystee also had two assists, while Offit and Patterson added one each.

Foley made eight timely saves.

Picarillo won 12 of 19 faceoffs and had a team-high eight ground balls.

Cape Elizabeth’s defense was the difference in the second half.

“A lot of it had to do with just talking,” said Capers junior defenseman Jake Liess. “(Junior) Colin (Blackburn) stepped up and held Colter to zero goals. That was impressive. The first half, we didn’t talk or slide right. We changed it up at halftime and shut them down. A lot of it was just communication and hard work. A lot of the season will come down to the defensive side. I think we’re more balanced this year. Teams will come into games looking to not only stop our offense but looking how to score on our defense since we’ve stepped it up.”

“(Sophomore) Tully Haydar and Alex van Huystee came up huge and Nate Patterson did too, playing (short stick),” said Lathrop. “Last year, Colter dropped 11 points on us and we weren’t going to let that happen again. We knew they like to post up with their big bodies. We figured we’d throw a double (team) on them and see what they could with it. ”

“We were more clear about things at halftime and what we wanted to do on the defensive end,” Raymond added. “They have two very good players and we didn’t deal with them that well in the first half. We hadn’t really prepared an awful lot. We showed up and played. The defensive guys adjusted well on-ball and off-ball, making sure we went early on those two guys. Michael made big saves when we needed him to.”

The Capers won the ground ball battle, 29-22, had a 39-25 shots advantage (23-14 on cage) and overcame 15 turnovers.

For Yarmouth, Marsh led the way with four goals, but he was shut out in the second half. McCann scored twice.

Yeo had one assist.

Will Redfield impressed with 11 saves.

“Some freshman goalies are still ducking and (Will’s) really playing great,” said Yarmouth coach Jon Miller.

Senior Jaxson Dauphinee paced the Clippers with four ground balls.

Yarmouth turned the ball over 21 times.

“We didn’t take care of the ball in the second half,” Miller lamented. “We couldn’t win faceoffs and they won the possession game and that was it. We got production in the first half with our simple offense. It was nothing special. We didn’t have to do anything crazy to score goals. We just didn’t get enough possessions in the second half to capitalize. We saw some good things, saw some bad things. Fortunately, we’ll see them again. It was encouraging. We know we can play with them.”

Rivalry games

Yarmouth looks to get back on track next week when it hosts two of its Class B rivals, Greely on Tuesday and Brunswick in a state game rematch Saturday.

“It’s still early in the season,” said Miller. “We’re young. We have freshmen and sophomores and juniors getting time. We only had three seniors start today. It was good to have a tough game like this early in the season.”

Cape Elizabeth, meanwhile, will also be tested next week, when it has a regional final rematch at Thornton Academy Wednesday, then hosts Falmouth in a state game rematch Saturday.

“I think we’ll do fine,” Lathrop said. “We’re still dialing it all in so everyone’s on the same page. We’ll figure it out and maybe not be as good as last year but close. I’m excited to face the TA zone. It’ll be difficult, but we’ll practice and see how we do.”

“I’m excited for TA and I’m looking forward to playing Falmouth,” said Liess.

“It’s still really early,” Raymond added. “TA is a difficult team for us to play no matter what. We’ll have to work hard offensively. We don’t have the same guys last year, so we’ll have to change some looks. Falmouth’s very good. They’re solid and young.

‘It will be a good week for us.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

Recent Cape Elizabeth-Yarmouth results

2022
Cape Elizabeth 14 @ Yarmouth 5
Yarmouth 18 @ Cape Elizabeth 16

2021
@ Cape Elizabeth 18 Yarmouth 3
Cape Elizabeth 15 @ Yarmouth 1

2019
@ Cape Elizabeth 8 Yarmouth 7 (OT)
Cape Elizabeth 9 @ Yarmouth 2

2018
Yarmouth 7 @ Cape Elizabeth 6
Cape Elizabeth 8 @ Yarmouth 2

2017
Cape Elizabeth 17 @ Yarmouth 0
@ Cape Elizabeth 16 Yarmouth 4
Class B state final
Cape Elizabeth 16 Yarmouth 7

2016
Cape Elizabeth 15 @ Yarmouth 5
@ Cape Elizabeth 14 Yarmouth 6

2015
@ Cape Elizabeth 6 Yarmouth 3
Cape Elizabeth 14 @ Yarmouth 5
Class B State Final 
Cape Elizabeth 7 Yarmouth 5 

2014
Cape Elizabeth 10 @ Yarmouth 6
@ Cape Elizabeth 9 Yarmouth 4
Class B State Final
Cape Elizabeth 6 Yarmouth 3

2013
@ Cape Elizabeth 7 Yarmouth 5
Cape Elizabeth 13 @ Yarmouth 7
Class B State Final
Cape Elizabeth 7 Yarmouth 4

2012
Cape Elizabeth 12 @ Yarmouth 8
@ Cape Elizabeth 10 Yarmouth 5

2011
@ Cape Elizabeth 13 Yarmouth 2
Cape Elizabeth 6 @ Yarmouth 2

2010
@ Yarmouth 8 Cape Elizabeth 4
@ Cape Elizabeth 10 Yarmouth 7
Class B State Final
Cape Elizabeth 7 Yarmouth 6

2009
@ Yarmouth 8 Cape Elizabeth 6
Class B State Final
Yarmouth 12 Cape Elizabeth 9

2008
Yarmouth 9 @ Cape Elizabeth 3
@ Yarmouth 7 Cape Elizabeth 3
Class B State Final
Yarmouth 9 Cape Elizabeth 4

2007
@ Cape Elizabeth 9 Yarmouth 5
@ Yarmouth 8 Cape Elizabeth 7

2006
@ Yarmouth 4 Cape Elizabeth 3
Yarmouth 6 @ Cape Elizabeth 5

2005
@ Cape Elizabeth 8 Yarmouth 6
@ Yarmouth 15 Cape Elizabeth 8
State Final
Cape Elizabeth 7 Yarmouth 6

2004
@ Yarmouth 13 Cape Elizabeth 11
Yarmouth 15 @ Cape Elizabeth 7
State Final
Yarmouth 11 Cape Elizabeth 6

2003
@ Cape Elizabeth 7 Yarmouth 1
State Final
Cape Elizabeth 9 Yarmouth 8 (OT)

2002
Cape Elizabeth 16 @ Yarmouth 6
Cape Elizabeth 15 @ Yarmouth 6

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