YARMOUTH — The Waynflete boys’ lacrosse team has been in four one-goal games this season, but junior Miles Lipton said that valuable experience hasn’t exactly made the team more confident.
“It keeps you paranoid,” Lipton said. “There’s nothing like the nerves you feel at the end of those close games. When you pull away early, you keep your foot on the gas.”
There was no one-goal, down-the-stretch drama on Tuesday for the fourth-seeded Flyers did in a Class C semifinal against top-ranked North Yarmouth Academy (9-5).
After entering halftime with a 9-3 lead, the Flyers (10-4) didn’t let up en route to an 18-6 victory and a spot in the state championship for the first time since 1999.
Lipton scored six goals for Waynflete, which will face Lincoln Academy for the Class C state title on Friday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
“We’ve been in close games, we’ve been in big games,” Waynflete Coach Parker Repko said. “We’ve experienced a lot of different games at a lot of different moments in the season, and that helps us for moments like this.”
One of those one-goal games was against NYA on May 9, which the Panthers won 9-8.
“Last game, we were down two goals before we started rolling,” said Waynflete goalkeeper Will Armstrong, who finished with 12 saves. “This time, we came out confident and composed and just played our game.”
But the Panthers did give Waynflete a scare in the third quarter after gaining some momentum late in first half. Connor Clock (two goals) snapped the Flyers’ four-goal run with 1:31 left in the second quarter and NYA goalkeeper Will Tatge made two clutch saves on point-blank shots by Zane Moorhead (three goals) to keep Waynflete from adding to its six-goal lead entering halftime.
Oliver Burdick (two goals) opened the second half with a Waynflete goal, but the Panthers answered with three straight from Jonah Eng, Mason Parks and Reese Farrell to cut the Flyers’ lead to 10-6 with 1:39 left in the third quarter.
Fifty-five seconds later, Liam Feeney kicked off an eight-goal run that the Panthers just couldn’t answer.
Both Armstrong and Lipton were surprised to see the Panthers’ third-quarter surge ended at just three goals.
“When a team goes on a run like that, it feels so different watching it,” Armstrong said. “On the field, you feel like it’s 18 goals. It’s a scary feeling. You just have to be consistent and play your game.”
Duvall scored three of the Flyers’ seven fourth-quarter goals while Lipton and Mitchell Adams (three goals) contributed two apiece.
“We’ve got a squad of 16 guys, and we made it to the Western Maine final,” NYA Coach Glenn Gorden said. “We did it on the backs of guys like Connor Clock – our faceoff guy. But that’s our one senior and we’ve got everyone else returning next year.
“Hopefully we can build on that.”
Taylor Vortherms can be contacted at 791-6417 or
tvortherms@pressherald.com
Twitter: TaylorVortherms
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