Because of the never-ending wall of water that has left puddles the size of ponds on the Cape Elizabeth athletic fields, Monday’s girls lacrosse game was moved to the synthetic turf field at Yarmouth High School.

So the Cape girls went from thinking the game could be cancelled to having to hurry home to retrieve their equipment before the bus left. It wasn’t much of a distraction, but it was enough.

Yarmouth won the highly-anticipated battle, 13-4.

“I expected it would be tough with the weather and Yarmouth being probably one of the better teams this year,” said Cape coach Sarah Kinsella, whose team suffered its first loss. “But I definitely expected us to give them a better run.

“We thought we were playing at home. But I’m not going to make excuses. It comes down to: They didn’t play their best game. It shouldn’t really matter what happened over the weekend. They should be catching the ball. They were doing a lot of things that they don’t usually do.”

And not doing one thing that they usually do. The Capers averaged nearly 10 goals over their three previous games. Monday, they didn’t get their first goal until there was 1:39 left in the first half.

“They had an excellent defense today, and they did a great job keeping us in the back field,” said Kinsella. “So we couldn’t get our clears up the field. They were stopping us right before midfield, trapping us, and we weren’t doing well adjusting to that, which is something we needed to do and we didn’t.”

The Clippers didn’t do anything too complex – they ran a zone – but they executed just how coach Dorothy Holt drew it up.

“My defense is working really well together and talking,” she said.

Unfortunately for the Capers, the Yarmouth offense wasn’t too shabby either.

Nicole Grover got things started 3:30 into the game when she converted a Laurie Baker pass into a shot that found the upper left corner of the net. Less than a minute later, Baker made good on a pass from Molly Hallweaver.

Cape goalie Meghan Mowles came through with a pair of stick saves over the next four minutes, but Emily Johnson made the score 3-0 with 16:09 left in the half.

Kinsella called a timeout after the third goal, but the Clippers had already built all the momentum they’d need to carry them through the first half. They scored three more times – Johnson, Baker and Molly Dillworth had the goals – before Cape scored one.

“They started playing right from the beginning and we started halfway through,” said Cape forward Carly Rapaport. “I guess we just have to start the game at the beginning.”

Jill Smith had the first Cape goal; Rapaport scored the second on a restart after a Yarmouth penalty with 1:22 to go. She cut in front of the net left to right and shot on the run to beat Yarmouth goalie Analesa Carson.

Just as the offense was starting to click, the Clippers were saved by the bell (in this case a horn). And then, when the second half began, the Capers again struggled to permeate Yarmouth’s zone front.

“They were quick and they were aggressive,” said Rapaport. “I think we just needed to play our game that we know. We had a tough time playing against a team that was so quick and feisty.”

The Clippers turned their defensive stops into offensive scoring chances. Mowles made two point-blank saves in the first four minutes of the second half, but eventually Yarmouth converted. The Clippers scored five times in the first 7:33 of the second to build an 11-2 lead.

Rapaport got her second of the game with 12:00 to go, but Yarmouth answered with two more tallies before Cape scored again in the game’s final minute.

“I don’t know if we need to forget about it, but we’ll definitely look back on it and think about what we need to improve for next time,” said Rapaport. “There’s no point in looking back and regretting lots of stuff. We just need to use this game as a way to improve for next time.”

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