BOX SCORE

Yarmouth 16 Greely 13

Y- 10 6- 16
G- 8 5- 13

First half
24:48 Y D’Appolonia (Powers)
24:01 G Ferentz (unassisted)
23:32 Y D’Appolonia (Keaney)
22:47 G Dennen (unassisted)
21:54 G Taylor (unassisted)
20:06 G Taylor (Ferentz)
19:26 Y Carnes (unassisted)
19:14 Y D’Appolonia (Panozzo)
17:47 G Taylor (Dennen)
17:32 Y Walsh (D’Appolonia)
16:54 Y Powers (D’Appolonia)
13:37 Y Panozzo (free position)
10:05 Y D’Appolonia (Powers)
9:30 Y Powers (unassisted)
8:34 G Kelman (Taylor)
7:16 G Read (unassisted)
5:03 Y Keaney (unassisted)
0.0 G Kelman (free position)

Second half
23:19 Y Panozzo (Keaney)
23:07 Y Boone (D’Appolonia)
21:59 Y Powers (unassisted)
21:06 G Medrano (Dennen)
18:19 G Ferentz (free position)
11:41 G Dennen (Williams)
7:17 G Kelman (Ferentz)
7:05 Y Panozzo (D’Appolonia)
6:12 Y Panozzo (Powers)
4:44 G Ferentz (Dennen)
1:43 Y Panozzo (D’Appolonia)

Goals:
Y- Panozzo 5, D’Appolonia 4, Powers 3, Boone, Carnes, Keaney, Walsh 1
G- Ferentz, Kelman, Taylor 3, Dennen 2, Medrano, Read 1

Assists:
Y- D’Appolonia 5, Powers 3, Keaney 2, Panozzo 1
G- Dennen 3, Ferentz, Read, Taylor, Williams 1

Draws:
Y- 19
G- 11

Shots on cage:
Y- 26
G- 18

Saves:
Y (Meas) 5
G (Bond) 10

CUMBERLAND—What a difference a healthy Katelyn D’Appolonia makes.

Whether she has room to breathe or not.

Wednesday afternoon at Glen Huchins Field, Yarmouth’s girls’ lacrosse team paid a visit to a red-hot Greely Rangers squad which beat the Clippers earlier this month, in a game that D’Appolonia played, but not at 100 percent, as she was recovering from a shoulder injury.

D’Appolonia was 100 percent for the rematch, however, and as a result, Yarmouth’s potent offense was clicking on all cylinders and it was just enough to end Greely’s win streak.

D’Appolonia, who was closely defended throughout, opened the scoring just 12 seconds in to set the tone, but the Rangers rallied to go ahead, 4-2, on consecutive goals from junior Charlotte Taylor. The Clippers answered and drew even at 4-4 on a D’Appolonia goal, but Taylor scored to put Greely ahead for what proved to be the final time.

D’Appolonia then set up sophomore sensation Aine Powers for the goal which gave Yarmouth the lead for good and Clippers clung to a 10-8 halftime lead.

Consecutive goals from sophomore Neena Panozzo, sophomore Brooke Boone and Powers early in the second half appeared to open it up, but back roared the Rangers with four straight goals of their one, the last coming from sophomore Asja Kelman with 7:17 left, to cut the deficit to just one, 13-12.

But D’Appolonia and her teammates weren’t going to leave Cumberland without a victory and after Powers won the ensuing draw to D’Appolonia, she set up Panozzo for a momentum-turning tally and Panozzo added another goal for a little breathing room.

Senior Carley Ferentz made things interesting with 4:44 to go, but three minutes later, D’Appolonia fed Panozzo for one final tally and that brought the curtain down on Yarmouth’s 16-13 victory.

D’Appolonia had four goals and five assists, Panozzo added five goals and Powers contributed three, while also dominating in the draw circle, as the Clippers won their fourth straight game, improved to 6-3, ended Greely’s seven-game surge and dropped the Rangers to 7-2 in the process.

“I think last time I was still getting back into it a little bit,” said D’Appolonia. “It’s been a transition all season, but I think I’m getting back to what I used to be. It’s a state championship rematch and we wanted revenge, so there was a lot riding on this game.”

Turning the tables

Back on May 3, Greely won at Yarmouth, 13-7, to end an 18-game, 17-year hex against the Clippers.

That was part of a great start to the season for the Rangers, who started with a hard-fought 16-12 loss at York, then defeated visiting Gray-New Gloucester/Poland (20-1), host North Yarmouth Academy (10-5) and visiting Freeport (6-5) and after the victory at Yarmouth, they downed host Messalonskee (11-1), visiting Waynflete, the reigning Class C champion (12-4), and host Fryeburg Academy (16-13).

As for Yarmouth, in its first year at the Class A level, it started with an impressive 13-4 home win over Windham and after falling at Falmouth, 10-8, beat host Cape Elizabeth, 12-5. Home losses to reigning Class A champion Kennebunk (11-3) and Greely (13-7) followed before the Clippers hit their stride, winning at Scarborough (16-8), at home over Oxford Hills (15-5) and at home over York (18-8).

In the first meeting, D’Appolonia, despite not being 100 percent, still managed to score four of Yarmouth’s seven goals, but Taylor scored five times for the Rangers, who not only snapped a long skid in the series, but also earned a measure of revenge over the Clippers’ 13-8 win in last year’s Class B state final.

Wednesday, on a very comfortable evening, with temperatures in the mid-60s, Greely sought to sweep Yarmouth for the first time this century, but the Clippers were able to produce just a little more offense.

After Powers won the opening draw, she set up D’Appolonia for a shot that Rangers sophomore goalie Whitney Bond couldn’t stop and just 12 seconds into the game, Yarmouth struck first.

Greely would answer 47 seconds later, as Ferentz scored unassisted, but with 23:32 to go in the first half, sophomore Lauren Keaney found D’Appolonia for a 2-1 lead.

The Rangers then rattled off three straight, tying it on an unassisted goal from junior Lauren Dennen 45 seconds later, going on top for the first time on Taylor’s unassisted goal with 21:54 remaining, then making it 4-2 with 20:06 left, as Ferentz set up Taylor for a shot Clippers senior goalie Juliet Meas couldn’t stop.

Unfazed, Yarmouth came right back an tied it, thanks to two goals in 12 seconds.

First, junior Sadie Carnes scored unassisted with 19:26 to go.

Then, off another Powers draw win, Panozzo set up D’Appolonia with 19:14 on the clock.

Greely wrested momentum back momentarily, as Taylor scored again, this time from Dennen with 17:47 to play in the half, but 15 seconds later, another Clippers fastbreak saw D’Appolonia set up senior Clancy Walsh to make it 5-5.

Then, with 16:54 showing, D’Appolonia set up Powers for her first goal and Yarmouth had the lead for good.

Panozzo would score for the first time, on a free position, with 13:37 remaining in the half, then Powers set up D’Appolonia for a goal with 10:05 to go and 35 seconds later, Powers scored unassisted to stretch the lead to 9-5.

With 8:34 left, the Rangers answered, as Taylor set up Kelman for a shot Meas couldn’t save.

Then, with 7:16 to go, junior Allie Read got to a loose ball and finished to cut the deficit to two.

Keaney then answered unassisted with 5:03 on the clock.

When Meas made a late save on Kelman, it appeared the Clippers would take a three-goal advantage to the break, but Kelman was awarded a free position and even though time expired, she buried it to make it 10-8 at the half.

Yarmouth then got a little breathing room early in the second half, thanks to Powers’ brilliance in the draw circle.

With 23:19 to play, Keaney set up Panozzo for the first goal of the new stanza.

Then, Powers won the draw to D’Appolonia, who set up Boone in transition 12 seconds later for a four-goal lead.

The next goal only needed eight seconds, as Powers raced in, had an initial shot saved by Bond, then converted the rebound for a 13-8 lead with 21:59 to play.

But the Rangers were far from finished.

Dennen set up junior Jenny Medrano with 21:06 left and after Meas saved a free position shot from Taylor, Ferentz converted a free position with 18:19 on the clock to make it 13-10.

Bond then kept the deficit at three by robbing Carnes and Panozzo and another Panozzo shot hit the post.

Then, with 11:41 remaining, sophomore Eva Williams lobbed a pass in front to Dennen, who scored to make it a two-goal game.

After Medrano and Read just missed, Greely made things really interesting, as Ferentz fed Kelman to make it 13-12 with 7:17 still to play.

But Yarmouth got off the deck and retook momentum in the blink of an eye.

Powers won the ensuing draw, D’Appolonia scooped up the ball, raced in, drew the defense, then set up Panozzo for the goal.

“We couldn’t have drawn that up any better,” D’Appolonia said. “Aine is great on the draw, our transition is good from the draw to attack and Neena got open and was able to put the ball in the back of the net and that was huge.”

“Katelyn’s a really smart player and I can read her well,” Panozzo said. “I’ve learned a lot from her. I haven’t played lacrosse that long, so she’s helped me improve.”

Out of a timeout, Panozzo struck again, this time from Powers with 6:12 on the clock.

The Rangers made one final run, as Dennen found Ferentz for a goal in transition with 4:44 remaining, but Powers won the ensuing draw, the Clippers milked three minutes off the clock, then with 1:43 to play, D’Appolonia set up Panozzo for the dagger.

One final Greely shot, from Read, hit the post and Yarmouth was able to run out the clock from there and celebrate its 16-13 victory.

“We all just really wanted to win after losing to them earlier in the season,” Panozzo said. “We just wanted to connect and get the win.”

“A good team capitalizes on your mistakes and all their first half goals came off our turnovers,” Clippers coach Dorothy Holt said. “We had to cut down our turnovers. We’re young and we panicked a little bit, but we got our composure and then, we were fine. This was good for us. A young team, playing a good team, on grass, that was great. To pull out a gritty win, that’s what we needed.”

D’Appolonia, despite being face-guarded by Greely sophomore Kylie Crocker, still managed to score four goals (giving her 99 for her career) and assist on five others (giving her 50 and counting).

“Being face-guarded is always tough,” said D’Appolonia. “(Kylie) did a really good when she was on me. I’m not really used to that.”

“When (Katelyn) got face-guarded, it just makes everyone else work harder,” Panozzo said.

Panozzo had a breakthrough game, scoring five times and adding an assist.

“Neena has come so far,” D’Appolonia said. “She’s stepped into a key role and has been huge for us.”

Powers added three goals and three assists, while Boone, Carnes, Keaney (two assists) and Walsh all tickled the twine once.

“We knew coming into the game that Katelyn would be face-guarded,” Holt said. “We knew they couldn’t face-guard Aine too, so Katelyn would take on an assisting role. Clancy and Neena and Brooke and Lauren played a supporting role. They’re all new and they’ve shown great improvement.”

Powers also won 19 of 30 draws.

Meas made five saves.

Yarmouth had a 26-18 advantage in shots on cage.

Greely produced enough offense to win most games, as Ferentz, Kelman and Taylor all had three goals, Dennen added two and Medrano and Read each scored once.

Dennen also had three assists, while Ferentz, Read, Taylor and Williams all added one.

Bond stopped 10 shots.

“It’s not the outcome we wanted,” said Rangers coach Becca Koelker. “I think they outplayed us today. They made a few extra plays and we couldn’t quite get momentum on the attacking end. Their pressure was good down there. I would say that (Katelyn) was on-point today. She was a real playmaker on the fast break and on the settled attack and we couldn’t adjust for that.

“I’m really proud of how we didn’t give up and fought until the end. That shows our resiliency.”

Title hunting

Greely and Yarmouth now return to their respective state title chases.

The Rangers (currently second to Messalonskee in the Class B state Heal Points standings) look to bounce back Friday at Cape Elizabeth. After playing at Gray-New Gloucester Monday, Greely closes at home versus York May 27.

“We just need to put a whole game together,” Koelker said. “I’m proud of the effort we gave today and we have a lot to be proud of. We have a few tweaks to make. Cape will be another good test. We want to get ourselves in the best position for the playoffs. Most of the teams we play are used to playing on turf, so it would be a big advantage for us to play on grass.”

The Clippers (second to Falmouth in Class A North) go to Waynflete Saturday, then close with a home game versus Cape Elizabeth May 27 and a trip to Lake Region May 31.

“I think we’ll be ready for postseason and whatever comes our way,” D’Appolonia said.

“I see great things for this group,” Holt said. “It’s kind of exciting to watch. We’re staying pretty simple. We’re growing together. We have great senior leadership with nine seniors, whether they’re on the field or off the field. We’re proving we can play with the best regardless whatever class we’re in.

“Waynflete will be ready for us. That will test our patience. Then we have Cape. We have some good tests left.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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