YARMOUTH — The girls of the Yarmouth lacrosse team wear jerseys that narrow at the neck, leaving plenty of space on bare shoulder blades for black magic marker.
On the left side, they wrote an X. On the right, R-I-S-E.
“We were targets,” said Grace O’Donnell of the Clippers. “We’re the No. 1 seed. We wanted to show that we’re targeted but we’re ready for the challenge and we’ll rise up to it.”
Indeed, for the second game in succession, the Clippers rallied from a two-goal deficit and turned away second-ranked Freeport 11-6 to win the Eastern Class B title for the third time in four years Wednesday night.
Yarmouth (12-2) will face Western Maine champion Cape Elizabeth (11-4) in the state championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Meredith Broderick of Freeport scored twice in the first 10 minutes and Molly Lane stopped the first five Yarmouth shots to give the upset-minded Falcons hope of avenging an early-season 14-3 loss.
“We came out playing our hardest,” said Broderick, who finished with four goals.
“We were all really pumped up.”
Yarmouth, which trailed North Yarmouth Academy 5-3 at halftime in the semifinals before rallying for a 9-7 victory, pulled within 3-2 before scoring the final four goals of the first half, the last two while playing with a numerical advantage thanks to a Freeport yellow card resulting in a three-minute penalty.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be like that (earlier game),” said Yarmouth Coach Dorothy Holt. “(Lane) is so good, and their attackers, we knew they were strong.
“We had no doubt it was going to be a good game.”
O’Donnell scored four of her five goals in the first half, three of them with an extra attacker and one from free position. Shannon Fallon added four goals, the first two after curling in front from behind the net.
“Against NYA, we had a similar experience,” Fallon said, “so we knew we had to come out strong. When that didn’t happen, we knew we had to refocus. It was time to rise above and pull through for each other and our seniors because we don’t want to stop playing with them yet.”
Emma Torres and Lilly Watson also scored for Yarmouth. Mary Kate Gunville made seven saves for the Clippers, who took an 11-4 advantage into the final 10 minutes.
“My midfielders really stepped up,” Holt said.
“Emma Torres, Lane Simsarian, Caitlin and Ellie Teare, Eliza Lunt – I mean, it took a village to beat (Freeport). And Mary Kate, our freshman goalie, she made some key saves at some key times.”
Lane finished with 12 saves for Freeport, which added two late goals from Courtney Broderick.
After Meredith Broderick’s two early goals, Yarmouth prevented any other scoring aside from three successful free-position shots until four minutes remained.
“Defensively, we stood our ground,” Holt said. “They’ve been working really hard. At the end it gets hard, but they held their wits about them and played a good game.”
Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or
Gjordan@pressherald.com
Twitter: GlennJordanPPH
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