If the Cape boys lacrosse team doesn’t win another Class B state title this season, senior captain Evan Bagley wouldn’t mind seeing Yarmouth with the trophy.
Over the past three years, the two teams have played so many times – Cape beat Yarmouth, 7-6, in the 2005 title game – that Bagley has become friends with some Yarmouth players.
When the Capers and Clippers are together on the same field, though there is no goodwill. The friendships are meaningless. After the game there are smiles and laughs. During the game there is a battle for bragging rights.
Friday night was no different. The Clippers beat the Capers, 4-3, to remain unbeaten; Cape fell to 5-3. The teams meet again May 31 at Cape Elizabeth.
“It’s usually a pretty close game. Both teams play fairly similar lacrosse,” said Cape coach Ben Raymond. “We attack the goal, try to do some dodging, find the open guy. Our defenses are similar. I think they pressure a little bit more than we do, but they’ve got some real good defensemen, some seniors that are playing well.”
The Capers, on the other hand, have just five seniors on their roster, and are relying on younger players – like sophomore Zach Belden – to carry the offense.
“I’ve got three brand-new attackmen that have never played varsity before, so it’s definitely a work in progress here,” said Raymond.
According to Bagley, a midfielder, Friday’s game was a step in the right direction.
“We haven’t been playing as a team,” he said. “We have a lot of young guys so we were just looking to start developing into that team that we’ve been. It seems like we’re getting there, and hopefully we can get there by June 16 (the day of the state championship). We’re digging deep and we can’t stop until after the state game, if we make it there.”
The Capers dug themselves out of a three-goal hole to make a game of it in the second half against the Clippers.
Yarmouth went up 1-0 with 2:20 to go in the first quarter when Cape senior defenseman Matt Allen slipped on the artificial turf and Francis Ellis got past him. Ellis shot high through traffic and beat goalie Eric Knight.
Zach Caldwell converted a John Curry feed with 33 seconds left in the first half to put the Clippers up 2-0. And Curry made it 3-0 with 6:39 to go in the third quarter.
The Capers finally got on the board two minutes later when one of the young guys, Belden, fed one of the senior captains, Chris Burton, in front. Burton, cutting through the middle when he received the pass, bounced a shot into the left side of the net.
Belden made it 3-2 less than a minute later. Bagley put a shot on goal from 40 feet out, and Yarmouth goalie Sean Bilodeau made the save. The ball got lost underneath him, though, and Belden dove in and knocked it home.
“It’s nice for us to have a good third quarter. It shows me that some of our fitness might be paying off, and we’re moving in the right direction,” said Raymond. “The kids never quit. They worked hard the whole time.”
And it wasn’t just the offense. The Cape defense kept the Clippers off the board until a full quarter later.
“We’re trying to get better each game. I think today was probably our best team defense,” said Allen. “Everybody was in tune, communicating well, and slides were on time, and it wasn’t just the first slide it was the second and third. Everything was going pretty well.
“When you have two teams that are this strong you know it’s going to come down to who’s going to let in the least.”
That team ended up being Yarmouth this time. The Clippers scored once more on a John Curry shot through traffic with 7:13 to go.
The Capers answered back two minutes later – Belden fed Nate Stevens in front this time – but they couldn’t get the equalizer.
“Our goal is to win our last game of the season, not our eighth game of the season,” said Raymond, whose team was second behind Kennebunk in the latest Western Class B Heal Point standings. “It’s just one of those regular season games that’s great to win, but if you don’t win you still have another game on Monday.”
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