Cathie Connors, longtime Waynflete girls’ lacrosse coach, has made a career out of getting her team to improve dramatically over the course of the season. This spring, the Flyers have taken it to an extreme.
Waynflete, which had a record of 1-7 just a couple of weeks ago, capped a six-game win streak to end the regular season with a dominating 14-7 win against visiting York on Wednesday afternoon at Fore River Fields.
The Flyers led from start to finish and got a career-high eight goals from junior Tilsley Kelly as they improved to 7-7.
“I think our team effort has turned it around,” said Kelly, who also had two assists. “We had a lot of individual play before, but we’re working as a team in our transition and we’ve been practicing that a lot.”
Waynflete shot to a quick 5-0 lead as Kelly had two goals and an assist and Lydia Birknes (three goals) added two more.
“I think I get into a rhythm and build up the confidence and I know I can (score),” said Kelly. “My teammates work so hard to get the ball to me in a perfect spot.”
By halftime, the Flyers had an 8-2 advantage as Kelly led the way with four goals and Birknes added three.
“Tilsley has a beautiful stick,” Connors said. “We’ve got some other shooters and we’re spreading it out, which is nice.”
A free position goal from senior Yen Wilson, a low defender who also sees time on offense, gave Waynflete an eight-goal lead early in the second half, but the Wildcats (7-7), behind goals from Emerson Joyce, Ella Boissonneault and Ava Fontaine, made things interesting.
York couldn’t get any closer due to Waynflete’s defense and senior goalie Pippa Huffard (eight saves). Two more goals from Kelly and another from Keegan Dolan, assisted by Kelly, put it away.
“I feel like we’ve always known what we’re capable of, but it took some early-season adversity to turn things around for us,” said Wilson.
“We’ve come a long way,” Connors said. “This is what I was hoping for. I knew the girls had it. We had a hard time putting it together and we had some injuries, but the girls have figured it out.”
Skylar Harris also scored for the Flyers, who will host a preliminary-round tournament game next week and could be a thorn in the side of Class C favorites Freeport and North Yarmouth Academy.
The Wildcats got two goals from Fontaine and one apiece from Boissonneault, Joyce, Grace Clayton, Annastasia Doughty and Sophia Luchette.
“The second half was definitely better for us,” said York Coach Meghan Clark. “Fifty-fity balls crushed us today. If we won those, it would have been a much closer game.”
The Wildcats, who lost to Greely in last year’s Class B state final, believe they’ll be in the mix when the playoffs begin next week.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a home-field advantage for (the preliminary round), then we’ll have some tough matchups going on the road,” said Clark. “We’re looking forward to it.”
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