YARMOUTH—A year ago, when Falmouth’s girls’ lacrosse team lost decisively at Yarmouth in the Class A North Final, it didn’t have Sloane Ginevan or Lucy Taylor.

Thursday evening, the Navigators made a return trip, with Ginevan and Taylor on hand, and what a difference a year makes.

Falmouth threatened to break the game open early, racing to a 3-0 lead less than five minutes in, but the proud Clippers responded, scoring four straight goals of their own before the Navigators closed the first half on a 4-0 run, featuring two free position goals from Ginevan and tallies from junior Peaches Stucker and Taylor, to make it 7-4 at the break.

Yarmouth tried to hang tough in the second half, but Falmouth found another gear.

An unstoppable gear.

The Navigators would erupt for a mind-boggling 13 second half goals, with Ginevan and Taylor each scoring four times, and gradually pulled away for a 20-9 victory.

Falmouth got a career-high seven goals from Ginevan, five more from Taylor and won its eighth straight game while improving to 8-1 and dropping the Clippers to 7-4 in the process.

“Yarmouth’s a very good team,” said Navigators coach Ashley Pullen. “They’re very skilled. Their ball movement was great, they were super-scrappy on ground balls and they made us work for it. We made a few adjustments on the offensive end and those really paid off for sure.”

No stopping them now

Falmouth had a rough start to the season when it lost, 12-1, at home to two-time reigning Class A champion Kennebunk, but the Navigators soon hit their stride and haven’t looked back. After rolling at Biddeford (17-5), Falmouth beat visiting Cheverus (14-7), then defeated visiting York (16-4) and Oxford Hills (17-6), host Gorham (13-6), visiting Scarborough (14-2) and host Windham (18-9).

Yarmouth, meanwhile, won at Windham in the opener, 16-6, then handled visiting Massabesic (14-1) and Cape Elizabeth (14-3), before losing at Kennebunk (15-5). After downing visiting Waynflete (11-5) and losing at Greely, the Clippers took care of visiting Scarborough (12-6) and beat host York (15-5) and Oxford Hills (15-3). Wednesday, Yarmouth suffered a 13-5 home loss to Greely.

Last spring, in the season-opener, host Falmouth held off the Clippers, 10-8, but in the rematch, in the Class A North Final, host Yarmouth rolled to a 14-5 victory.

In that one, Ginevan, then a junior, was sidelined with a knee injury, while Taylor was spending her junior year in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Senate Page School.

Thursday, on a chilly evening (54 degrees and dropping at game time), the Navigators were thrilled to have both standouts available and they flipped the script, producing an unstoppable attack.

Taylor won the draw to start the game and just 31 seconds in, sophomore Maeve Ginevan opened the scoring with an unassisted goal.

With 21:23 to go in the first half, a free position goal from sophomore Keira Alcock doubled the lead.

A mere 43 seconds later, Sloane Ginevan scored for the first time, beating Clippers freshman goalie Grace Keaney unassisted, to make it 3-0.

Yarmouth hoped to answer, but Falmouth senior goalie Patty Riley saved free position shots from juniors Brooke Boone and Aine Powers.

Then, with 16:54 on the clock, after a Navigators turnover, Powers raced in and scored unassisted to break the ice for the home team.

After Taylor hit the post at one end, junior Neena Panozzo scored on a free position shot with 15:42 to play and after Keaney robbed Sloane Ginevan in transition, Powers set up Boone for the tying goal with 10:55 left.

A mere 49 seconds later, the Clippers took the lead for the first, and what proved to be the only time, as Panozzo buried a free position shot for a 4-3 advantage.

Sloane Ginevan countered for Falmouth, making a free position shot with 9:14 remaining, then converting another with 7:30 left in the first half to put the Navigators on top to stay.

Falmouth then got some breathing room in the final minute of the first half.

With just 26.1 seconds showing, Stucker scored unassisted.

Then, after Taylor won the ensuing draw, with 10.2 seconds left, Stucker fed Taylor for her first goal, as Stucker threaded a pretty pass through traffic and Taylor made the nice catch before finishing to make it 7-4 at halftime.

The Navigators then turned it up another notch in a second half which featured goal after goal.

Just as it did to start the game, Falmouth scored almost immediately, as Sloane Ginevan struck unassisted 25 seconds in.

Sadie Carnes, one of just two seniors on the Yarmouth roster, answered with 22:50 left, finishing a nice feed from Boone, but Stucker countered with an unassisted tally 27 seconds later to make it 9-5.

Powers then won the ensuing draw and ran in and scored, but the Clippers would never get any closer.

Sophomore Maisy Clement scored successive goals, unassisted with 21:33 to play, the unassisted again with 19:31 left, stretching the lead to five.

Carnes answered with a free position goal with 18:02 on the clock, but in transition, Sloane Ginevan fed senior Adelaide Tolley for a goal 56 seconds later, then Taylor scored unassisted with 16:35 left to make the score 13-7.

Carnes then set up Lauren Keaney for a goal with 13:54 to go and after Taylor hit the post for Falmouth, Yarmouth hoped to get even closer, but Boone had a shot saved by Riley, then Powers missed wide.

The Navigators then ended any lingering doubt with four goals in just over two minutes.

With exactly 8 minutes to play, Sloane Ginevan took a pass from her sister and scored.

Thirty-five seconds later, Taylor set up Sloane Ginevan for a goal.

Then, 18 seconds after that, Taylor found Sloane Ginevan again.

“It’s so nice to play with 1 (Sloane) again,” said Taylor. “She’s someone I can always look to.”

Taylor then punctuated the mini-run by scoring on a free position with 5:45 left.

Fifty seconds later, Powers scored on a free position for what proved to be the Clippers’ final goal.

With 2:17 to play, Stucker somehow worked her way through the entire defense before finishing unassisted.

“Peaches’ feet are so fast and she plays with so much heart,” Pullen said. “She was a huge part of this win.”

Thirteen seconds later, Stucker set up Taylor for a goal.

Then, with 1:02 on the clock, Stucker fed Taylor for one final goal and Falmouth closed out its 20-9 victory.

“The team came out hot,” Taylor said. “We’ve worked so well. Our transition is huge. We started pushing on defense and we got confidence off the dodge. We sat down after the Windham game and we reflected and realized we have to stay hungry and humble. We took that and ran with it today.”

“(Last year) was brutal, so to step back on this field and win, it almost made me cry a little bit,” Sloane Ginevan said. “It was a full circle moment.”

Ginevan, who will play at Notre Dame next year, dazzled with seven goals and an assist.

“All credit to my teammates,” Ginevan said. “They make all the difference. We’re so offensively deep.”

Taylor, who will play next year at Bates College, added five goals and two assists.

“I can’t put into words how nice it is to have (Lucy) back,” said Sloane Ginevan. “She’s been my duo partner since we started playing lacrosse. Having her back means the world to me and more. Just having her on the circle alone, she’s be great, but she assists everyone. She’s the most selfless person I’ve ever played with.”

“It’s so amazing to have Lucy,” Pullen said. “Her stick is amazing, as you see in the draw circle. She has great vision in terms of dishing out assists. She’s always shooting in her spare time. She’s an attacker who comes up with interceptions in the defensive end. ”

Stucker scored three times and assisted on three goals, Clement had two goals and Alcock, Maeve Ginevan (one assist) and Tolley all tickled the twine once.

Riley made four saves.

Taylor led all players with 11 ground balls. Stucker scooped up nine.

The Navigators enjoyed a 33-20 shots advantage (26-13 on cage) and only committed 11 turnovers.

Fighting hard

Yarmouth was paced by Powers, who had three goals and one assist. Carnes (one assist) and Panozzo each added two goals, while Boone (one assist) and Lauren Keaney tallied one each.

Grace Keaney stopped six shots.

Powers had nine ground balls, while Panozzo collected eight.

The Clippers had a 16-15 edge in the draw circle and turned the ball over 17 times.

“We show we’re young, but the girls did a good job,” said longtime Yarmouth coach Dorothy Holt. “When they get down, they just can’t recover. (Falmouth) capitalized on our turnovers. When we turned it over, they got it down and put it in the cage.

“We’re getting there. We played much better than yesterday. I’m psyched for these kids. At their age, you never know what team will show up.”

Thinking playoffs

There’s a chance Falmouth and Yarmouth could meet again next month in the playoffs, but both squads have regular season business to attend to first.

The Clippers (currently ranked fifth in the Class A state-wide Heal Points standings) hope to get back on track Monday at Cheverus. After going to Cape Elizabeth next Friday, Yarmouth closes the regular season at home versus Lake Region on May 30.

“We take from these games that we can compete and we’re getting there,” said Holt. “We’ll take a day off tomorrow, come back and face Cheverus on Monday and hope to rebound. We’ll get there. We want to finish as high as we can. No one will want to play us and that’s how we like it. We’re not going away, let’s just say that.”

Falmouth (second to Kennebunk in Class A) is back in action Saturday at Marshwood, then has a showdown at equally sizzling Greely Monday. After hosting Massabesic and Thornton Academy, the Navigators close at resurgent Portland May 30.

“We just need to keep up the intensity,” Taylor said. “We need to come off each win just being hungry for more.”

“I see the girls improving every day,” said Pullen. “We still need to be more disciplined about holding the ball, moving the ball on attack and playing cleaner defense. Looking at this stretch, this game, Marshwood Saturday and Greely on Monday, is definitely the crux of our season. To come out of this game with a win like this gives us momentum going into the next one.”

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

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