CAPE ELIZABETH—Keegan Lathrop has gotten his share of grief from his coaches about his poor shooting percentage in recent games.

Suffice it to say that Lathrop won’t be facing any criticism from his coaches, his Cape Elizabeth boys’ lacrosse teammates or anyone else following his signature performance Friday evening against visiting Thornton Academy at Hannaford Field.

The undefeated Capers, the two-time Class A state champions, were frustrated for much of the game, leading the always-tough Golden Trojans by just a 2-1 score after one period and 4-2 at halftime.

Thornton Academy then raced out of the gate and started the second half with four straight goals, delivering Cape Elizabeth its biggest dose of adversity to date this spring.

But a man-up goal from Lathrop with 2;34 to play in the third quarter turned the tide and Lathrop added another goal to send the contest to the final stanza deadlocked.

There, just 14 seconds in, Lathrop scored again to put the Capers ahead to stay and he was far from finished.

In fact, Lathrop would score four more times to break the game open and Cape Elizabeth pulled away for a 13-7 victory.

Lathrop, who didn’t play in the teams’ first meeting, wound up with a career high eight goals as the Capers improved to 9-0 on the season, extended their two-year win streak to 15 and in the process, dropped Thornton Academy to 5-4.

“Keegan’s a really good player, a very good shooter,” said longtime Cape Elizabeth coach Ben Raymond. “Their zone allowed for him to get those shots. They were contested though. He wasn’t just standing there. We were on him earlier in the week for his shooting percentage, but he’s trying hard to place it more. He’s a big difference maker.”

The cheat code

Cape Elizabeth began with a 10-6 home win over South Portland, then beat host Gorham (13-2), downed visiting Yarmouth (11-6), held off host Thornton Academy (7-4) and visiting Falmouth (9-7), then dispatched visiting Messalonskee (14-5), host Scarborough (12-1) and host Yarmouth (14-8).

Thornton Academy won its opener, 18-10, at Westbrook, then lost at home to South Portland, 5-4, Falmouth (12-8) and Cape Elizabeth (7-4). The Golden Trojans then righted their ship, defeating Portland (15-3), Massabesic (21-1), Marshwood (8-5) and York (16-3).

The Capers only generated seven goals in the teams’ first meeting, April 26, but it was enough for victory.

Friday, Thornton Academy looked to split with Cape Elizabeth for the second year in a row and earn a victory at Hannaford Field for the first time since the 2019 Class A South Final, but instead, they became the Capers’ 15th straight victim.

Bobby Offit and Lathrop scored early to give Cape Elizabeth the jump before Jackson Paradis answered to make it 2-1 after 12 minutes.

In the second period, Offit and junior Alex van Huystee scored for the Capers, while junior Noah Veroneau scored for the visitors, keeping the Golden Trojans very much in the game at the break, down just two goals, 4-2.

Thornton Academy then sizzled out of the gate in the second half, as a minute in, senior Ethan LeBlanc finished a feed from junior Jacob Marcotte to cut the deficit to one.

Fifty-three seconds later, in transition, LeBlanc found Veroneau for a shot which Cape Elizabeth senior goalie Michael Foley couldn’t stop and the game was tied.

Then, off the ensuing faceoff, won by junior Cody Southwick, Southwick raced in and scored unassisted to put the Golden Trojans on top.

After Thornton Academy senior goalie Jacob Parenteau preserved the lead by saving shots from junior Tom Hennessey and senior Nick Laughlin, the Golden Trojans took a 6-4 lead when Veroneau flicked home a loose ball in front.

“The third quarter obviously wasn’t ideal,” Raymond said. “We lost ground balls in that quarter. It caused some problems. They got goals from us missing ground balls in the defensive end. They picked them up and scored.”

For the first time all season, the Capers were down by two goals in the second half and for a split-second, they appeared mortal.

But then, Lathrop took over in super-human fashion to turn the game for good.

After junior Sam Cochran hit the post for the home team, Lathrop scored a man-up goal with 2:34 on the clock to end Thornton Academy’s run.

With 1:21 remaining, after junior defenseman Colin Blackburn did a terrific job scooping up a loose ball and passing it to senior Nate Patterson to start a fastbreak, Lathrop struck again and the game went to the fourth period tied, 6-6.

After losing most of the faceoffs and ground balls in the third period, Cape Elizabeth dominated those categories in the fourth and not coincidentally, that led to goal after goal after goal.

Senior Sebastian Moon won the faceoff to start the fourth and Laughlin got the ball to Lathrop, who ripped a shot past Parenteau to put the Capers on top for good.

With 10:16 to go, junior Connor Goss fought his way through literally the entire Golden Trojans defense before finding the net to make it 8-6.

Lathrop then returned to center-stage, scoring a man-up goal from van Huystee with 8:08 to go, then adding an unassisted goal off a Moon faceoff win 14 seconds later.

With 6:02 to play, Lathrop scored from senior Andrew Trachimowicz in transition after a turnover, then with 4:55 showing, Lathrop scored his fifth goal of the quarter, his seventh in a 9 minute, 39 second span and his eighth of the game, from Goss, to end all doubt and make the score 12-6.

“Against Falmouth, I shot eight percent and last game, I shot 14 percent, so today, I figured I’d get one early and see how I was feeling,” Lathrop said. “I was hot, so I kept firing away. My outside shots were on. It got the bench and the whole team fired up.”

“Keegan is the cheat code, very similar to his brother (Tiernan),” said Thornton Academy coach Ryan Hersey. “We’ve been fortunate to have one of those too (CJ Labreck, Class of 2019). It was impressive to watch. We have to figure out a game plan for that if we see them again and if we want to go to the state championship, we will see them again and we’ll be back here.”

With 2:55 to go, Lathrop set up a goal instead of scoring it, throwing a no-look pass in front to van Huystee, who finished.

With 1:21 left, Thornton Academy finally snapped a 17:08 drought and Cape Elizabeth’s 9-0 run when senior Cam Raymond set up LeBlanc for a man-up goal, but the Capers went on to a 13-7 victory.

“I was a little worried, but we knew we weren’t playing our best,” said Lathrop. “I knew if we calmed down and stopped forcing shots and shooting at the goalie’s stomach the whole time, we’d be fine. We just had to settle down.”

“It was great to see how we reacted in the fourth quarter,” Raymond said. “We got behind, then we realized there was a lot of time left and we didn’t have to make it as hard as we made it. The most important thing about this game was more experience playing against that team. We can’t mimic what they do in practice. More time playing against their zone is a big benefit. If all goes well, we’ll probably see them in the semis. It’s helpful we did what we needed to in the fourth quarter to see what we can do on offense. Our defense was outstanding. We might have given up two goals in settled 6-v-6. Everything else was in transition or on scrambles.”

Lathrop nearly matched his older brother Tiernan’s program record of nine goals in a game, set last year in a win over South Portland. Tiernan Lathrop is now playing at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

“On the last play, I was doubled and I had no chance, but I was trying to get one just to tell (Tiernan) I did it,” Lathrop said.

Cape Elizabeth also got two goals apiece from Offit and van Huystee and the other from Goss.

Thornton Academy featured three goals from Veroneau and one apiece from LeBlanc, Paradis and Southwick.

“We have to stay out of the penalty box,” Hersey lamented. “That was our biggest penalty night of the year. We can’t play a man down against the best team in the state and expect to stay with them. Our consistency still needs to be better. It was great to see us get four goals quickly.  There were four- or five-minute stints where we did want we wanted and controlled the ball. I was happy to be 6-6 going to the fourth quarter.”

Can they be stopped?

Thornton Academy looks to bounce back Tuesday, when it welcomes rival Scarborough.

Cape Elizabeth, meanwhile, is at York Wednesday, then has perhaps its biggest test to date next Saturday, at Falmouth.

“We want to go undefeated,” Lathrop said. “Losing (to Yarmouth and Thornton Academy) last year was devastating. We want to go undefeated like (my) freshman year. It’s hard to do, but with this team, I think we can do it. We’re finding our rhythm. We’re doing fine right now. We just need to have to play more consistent. Falmouth will be a big game. We’ll get ready for that.”

“It’ll be interesting to see what Falmouth has when we go there,” said Raymond. “We’ll see what adjustments they made to what we did last time. That’ll be a good test.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

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