Karli Chapin took the shot, tumbled to the turf and heard the crowd’s roar. Scrambling to her feet, she tossed her lacrosse stick high into the chilly night air as the celebration began.

For the second year in a row, Cape Elizabeth rallied from behind in the final minute to force overtime and then beat Yarmouth, 12-11, for the Class B girls’ lacrosse state championship.

A year ago, the two evenly matched teams needed only one overtime period. On Friday night at Fitzpatrick Stadium, they remained tied at 11 after two three-minute extra periods. Chapin scored 35 seconds into the third.

“I’m on the verge of losing my voice,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Alex Spark. “They worked so hard. That was such a battle on both teams. It could have gone either way.”

Both teams finish 13-2. Top-seeded Yarmouth, which saw its 12-game winning streak come to a close, lost in the state finals for the fourth year in succession. The Capers have won two in a row.

Ehryn Groothoff scored three goals for the Clippers, who led by as many as three (6-3) in the first half and took an 11-9 edge in the final five minutes of regulation.

When Chapin was sent off for two minutes with a yellow card at 2:54, things looked bleak for the Capers.

“The same thing happened last year,” she said. “I kind of lost my cool a little in that game. I knew I needed to stay mentally in (this) game and keep my teammates high up on energy.”

A yellow card for Yarmouth not quite a minute later evened the playing field.  Cape senior Brooke Harvey raced in for her fifth goal with 1:54 remaining to make it 11-10.

Groothoff and Anna Thornton won the ensuing draw for Yarmouth, which milked another 50 seconds off the clock before Cape Elizabeth forced a turnover. Chapin returned to action moments later and took a feed from Harvey to tie the score with 39 seconds remaining.

Yarmouth won the first overtime draw and controlled the ball for a minute before Katelyn D’Appolonia took a shot from close range that Capers goalie Erin Foley saved. Down at the other end, Chapin shot wide right, then wide left before Yarmouth goalie Isabella Serrano denied a third opportunity.

Yarmouth maintained possession through much of the second overtime period, and Groothoff attacked the middle to draw a foul with 1:31 remaining. Again, Foley made the save on a free position shot.

“Last year we saw a lot of overtime games, so it was nothing new for me,” Foley said. “You just have to go out there and do what you know best.”

Groothoff appeared to control the draw to begin the third overtime, but was whistled for reaching over the back of Cape Elizabeth’s Tory McGrath.

“We got lucky there,” Spark said.

The Capers got the ball to Chapin. She ran hard from the left side, then shot low to the left corner for her fifth goal of the night.

“We’d been shooting high and hitting the pipes all game,” she said. “So I thought a low shot would be better.”

Annie Lowenstein finished with three goals for Yarmouth. D’Appolonia and Abi Thornton each had two and Natalie Teare one. Serrano had 11 saves and Cape’s Foley made seven.

McGrath and Allie Lynch also scored for Cape Elizabeth.

“They didn’t give up,” Spark said. “I’ve never been so proud of a team.”

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