YARMOUTH—Waynflete’s girls’ lacrosse team didn’t just earn a dose of vengeance Thursday afternoon at Lewis Field, the Flyers also made a powerful statement in a decisive win at recent nemesis North Yarmouth Aacdemy.
That they’re the team to beat this spring in Class C and good luck keeping them from their date with destiny.
It took Waynflete all of 73 seconds to go in front to stay, as senior standout Tilsley Kelly set up classmate Sasha Melnick for a goal, and thanks to two more assists from Kelly and two goals apiece from senior Chloe Marblestone and junior Lydia Birknes, the Flyers were on top, 5-1, after one quarter.
The onslaught continued in the second period, as Kelly had three assists and scored two goals of her own and Waynflete opened up a 10-2 advantage at the break.
The Flyers induced a mercy rule running in the third quarter, then cruised to a 14-5 victory.
Kelly had two goals and a whopping eight assists, Birknes finished with a game-high six goals and Marblestone added four goals as Waynflete improved to 6-1 on the season and in the process, dropped the Panthers to 3-4.
“I think I’ve thought about (last year’s game) every day,” said Birknes. “It feels good to come here and get a win.”
Ancient rivals
Waynflete and NYA have done battle in girls’ lacrosse going back to the last century. The teams played five times in the state final between 2001 and 2010, with the Flyers prevailing on four occasions, and have met in each of the past two postseasons.
Last year, the reigning Class C champion Panthers needed double-overtime to survive visiting Waynflete, 11-10, on Leah Dube’s goal, in the state quarterfinals. NYA went back to the state final but lost to Freeport, 7-5.
The Panthers opened the 2024 season with a 12-4 home loss to Cape Elizabeth, then defeated visiting St. Dom’s (13-1) and host Gray-New Gloucester/Poland (12-2). After losses to visiting Gorham (11-8) and at Freeport (15-5), NYA defeated host Morse in its last outing, 8-5, Monday to even its record.
The Flyers, meanwhile, have excelled, stumbling just once in six outings, defeating visiting Lake Region (16-2), visiting Portland (18-6), host St. Dom’s (15-0) and host Gray-New Gloucester (13-2) and after losing at reigning Class B champion Greely (10-8), outscoring visiting Scarborough Tuesday, 17-13.
Thursday, on a misty, 47-degree afternoon, NYA looked to beat Waynflete for a record fifth consecutive time, but instead, the Flyers downed the Panthers for the first time since May 28, 2021 (5-4 at home) to reach the midway point of the regular season in style.
Kelly won the draw to start the contest, then she set up Melnick for the lead with 10:47 left in the first quarter.
After Melnick missed wide, Marblestone tried an over the shoulder shot that went wide, then Birknes missed as well, Marblestone scored, from Kelly, with 9:03 on the clock to double the lead.
Birknes scored her first goal 18 seconds later, taking a pass from senior Skylar Harris and tickling the twine, forcing NYA coach Molly Moss-Stokes to call timeout.
It helped initially, as the Panthers got on the board with 8::30 remaining in the quarter, as junior Lyla Casey beat Waynflete freshman goalie Mya Clark on a free position shot, but after Clark denied freshman Poppy Griffin, the Flyers went back on the attack and with 6:51 left, Kelly found Birknes again for a goal.
Eleven seconds later, after Kelly won the draw and passed to Marblestone, Marblestone raced in and fired a shot past NYA junior goalie Salin Bachor.
Late in the quarter, Clark stopped a shot from sophomore Ava Wilkinson and at the other end, Bachor robbed Harris, keeping the score 5-1 after 12 minutes of play.
“We wanted to come out strong,” said longtime Flyers coach Cathie Connors. “We came out really slow against Greely and it took us until the third quarter to get going, so we’ve talked about starting strong from the first second.”
Waynflete continued to pull away in the second period.
With 8:51 remaining in the half, Kelly set up Birknes for a goal.
“We’ve played together for awhile and we play together outside of school too and we work really well together,” said Birknes, of her connection with Kelly. “Having so many offensive options helps and makes us harder to defend. You can take one person out of the game and six others are there.”
Forty-three seconds later, Kelly assisted on yet another goal, this one to Marblestone.
“My teammates have such good cuts, so it’s easy to assist them,” said Kelly. “It feels so much better to get an assist than a goal. I’m known for forcing (shots) a little bit, but the assists are never forced. Chloe is such a big addition. Not only is she a beautiful player and so fun to play with, but she brings wonderful energy to the team.”
Kelly finally got in on the scoring fun herself with 3:43 showing, this time taking a pass from Marblestone and finishing in transition to make it 8-1.
The Panthers got a goal back 26 seconds later, as Casey fed Wilkinson for a backhanded shot in transition, but with 2:24 on the clock, Kelly scored, from Harris, and then, 30 seconds later, Kelly’s sixth assist produced Birknes’ fourth goal and the lead was 10-2 at the break.
In the first half, the Flyers had a commanding 18-5 edge in shots (11-4 on cage) and had essentially salted the game away.
Waynflete continued to score when the third quarter commenced.
Kelly set up Birknes for a goal with 8:58 left and after Casey scored unassisted with 5:48 remaining, Marblestone scored, this time from Harris, 12 seconds later, then with 2:55 on the clock, Harris’ free position goal induced the mercy rule.
Bachor stood tall by denying Marblestone, then Birknes on a rebound bid, but with just 24.8 seconds left, Kelly’s eighth assist resulted in Birknes’ sixth goal and the Flyers took a 14-3 advantage to the final stanza.
There, Connors substituted liberally and Waynflete didn’t score again.
NYA, which fought hard to the end, got goals from Casey (set up by Wilkinson) with 5:52 to go and Wilkinson (unassisted) with 4:10 showing, but it was far too little, too late and the Flyers closed out their 14-5 victory.
“I’ve tried to block out last year, but we’ve kept it in mind,” Kelly said. “We knew this was a big game and we wanted to redeem ourselves. Greely was a tough game, but it taught us how to be gritty and we’ve worked on a lot since then and I think it showed in this game.”
“This was really good,” said Connors. “Last year is still there. We have a lot of returners and we talked about it. NYA is athletic, strong and physical. The girls were ready today. Everyone on offense can shoot, which isn’t always the case, so that’s really nice. We’ve really focused on ground balls and possession. We just need to trust each other in traffic and we did that today.”
Birknes sparked a potent offense with six goals. Marblestone added four, Kelly finished with two and Harris and Melnick each tallied one.
Kelly also had eight assists.
“Tilsley takes pride in assists,” Connors said. “She’s the most humble player. She’s just as tickled to feed and never score.”
Harris finished with three and Marblestone had one, meaning 12 of the Flyers’ 14 goals were assisted.
Clark made six timely saves.
Waynflete had a 42-32 advantage on ground balls (Kelly led the way with seven), enjoyed a 29-14 edge in shots (19-11 on cage) and overcame 21 turnovers.
NYA was paced offensively by Casey, who had three goals. Wilkinson added a pair. Casey and Wilkinson also had one assist apiece.
Casey had a game-high 11 ground balls.
Bachor stopped five shots.
The Panthers turned the ball over 23 times.
“They came out really strong, they’re a great team,” said Moss-Stokes, of the Flyers. “They brought back a lot of the same players as last year. Even though they’re a known quantity, it was hard for our newer players to get used to their play. We usually see them to start the season. It was nice to see them midway and we might see them in the postseason. We overcame some obstacles the best we could.”
High hopes
NYA has two home games next week, versus Gardiner Tuesday and Lake Region Thursday.
“We just have to keep going and keep improving and see where we’re at the end of the season,” said Moss-Stokes. “Overall, there are things we need to clean up, but I’m proud of our effort. We’re a really young team, but we’re trying to get one percent better each day.”
Waynflete is idle until Wednesday of next week, when it visits Class A Gorham. The Flyers then have a key home test next Friday against a Wells squad which is currently undefeated.
“I want to win again really badly,” said Kelly, who was part of a championship team as a freshman. “Our whole team and Cathie don’t like to talk about playoffs until we get there. It’s just about taking it one game at a time and trusting each other.”
“We have to keep the energy up and keep fighting,” said Birknes. “Moving forward, we’ll keep fighting no matter what.”
“I’m really happy,” Connors added. “I’m looking forward to a busy week next week. We have some big games still to come. We’ll keep on pushing.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.
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