FALMOUTH — Top-ranked Falmouth was simply relentless. The Yachtsmen kept coming and kept scoring, defeating fifth-seeded York/Traip Academy 9-0 in a girls’ hockey South semifinal Saturday night at Family Ice Center.
Abi Lebel scored three goals, and Devon Sarazin and Sarah Noyes added two each for the Yachtsmen (15-4).
Falmouth will play second-seeded Scarborough (14-4-1) for the South championship at the Colisee in Lewiston – set for Wednesday but a storm may change that. It will be the fourth straight time the schools have met for the regional title. Scarborough won two of the previous three, including last year.
“It seems like it’s a bit of a tradition,” Falmouth Coach Rob Carrier said. “It’s a fun matchup and I imagine both teams are really looking forward to it.”
Falmouth and Scarborough split their two-game series during the season; the last meeting was Feb. 1, a 3-2 Red Storm win.
Falmouth swept York (10-10) during the season, but the second game, on Jan. 10, went into overtime.
“It was definitely on our minds,” Carrier said. “We came out a little slow that game and we paid the price. We put it out there to the girls: We can let that happen again and roll the dice, or we can take care of business ourselves.”
The Yachtsmen took care of business.
“We were excited and we came out hard,” said Lebel, who also had two assists.
Falmouth outshot the Wildcats 43-6. Lebel and Reade Carmichael scored in the first period, but the Wildcats kept it 2-0 until halfway through the second period. Wildcats goalie Sophie Stephens has been steady all season, and she kept it up Saturday.
“She had a great season. The score (Saturday) does not reflect her season,” York Coach Kevin Banfield said. “She’s one of the tops in the state.
“Falmouth was just so much better than we were and it showed from the drop of the puck. They didn’t let up on the throttle.”
The Yachtsmen added three goals in the last seven minutes of the second period.
Stone Carmichael roofed a rebound on a shot by Lebel at 8:05.Noyes, a smooth-skating defenseman, wristed in a goal at 10:27 and Sarazin buried a pass from Lebel on a power play at 12:51 for a 5-0 lead.
“We came out strong and then York picked up their game,” said Sarazin. “They have a great goalie and we knew we needed to push all the way to the end.”
Noyes started the scoring in the third period with a goal at 1:20. Lebel scored twice and Sarazin finished it off.
Now it’s time to prepare for the Red Storm again.
“It’s a different game every year,” said Sarazin, one of Falmouth’s two senior centers, with Evie Clement. We’re a different team, they’re a different team.”
So far, Sarazin likes this Falmouth bunch.
“We’re gritty and we’re working hard,” she said.
This will be Falmouth’s sixth trip to the regional championship game in the nine years high school girls’ hockey has been a sanctioned sport. The Yachtsmen are 2-3 in their previous appearances.
Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or:
kthomas@pressherald.com
Twitter: KevinThomasPPH
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