PORTLAND—What a difference a couple of weeks make for Waynflete’s girls’ lacrosse team.

On the afternoon of May 18, the Flyers were 1-7 and a playoff trip was far from a certainty.

But as the calendar flips to June, Waynflete is not only postseason-bound, it has won six straight contests, capped by an emphatic and impressive home victory over York Wednesday afternoon at Fore River Fields.

The Flyers seized control quickly, getting two goals apiece from junior Tilsley Kelly and sophomore Lydia Birknes to open up a quick 5-0 lead, which they extended to 8-2 at halftime.

When Kelly and senior Yen Wilson scored early in the second half, Waynflete was on the verge of inducing a mercy rule running clock, but the Wildcats scored three straight goals to make things interesting.

The Flyers never let York make a serious run, however, thanks to a solid defensive effort, and Kelly scored two more goals down the stretch and set up another as Waynflete pulled away for a 14-7 victory.

Kelly scored a career-high eight goals, Birknes added three and the Flyers evened their record at 7-7, while dropping the Wildcats to 7-7 in the process.

“We’ve come a long way,” said longtime Waynflete coach Cathie Connors, after her 320th career victory. “This is what I was hoping. I knew we had it. We had a hard time putting it together and we had some injuries. The girls figured it out and they went after it and they wanted it today, which was nice to see.”

Surging to the finish

The Flyers opened with a 14-8 home loss to defending Class C champion NYA, then fell at Scarborough in a shootout (14-11), at Wells (7-5) and at Yarmouth (11-5) before getting in the win column at home against Traip Academy (18-3). After a 7-6 loss at Portland, Waynflete fell at home to reigning Class B champion Greely (15-9), then lost at Freeport, 13-7. The turnaround then began with a 10-7 home victory over Gorham and the Flyers followed that up with wins over visiting Lake Region (15-6), host Fryeburg Academy (13-3), visiting Gray-New Gloucester (19-12) and host Lake Region (14-6).

York, meanwhile, opened with a 13-8 loss at Greely in a rematch of last year’s Class B state final. After winning three straight, the Wildcats have largely alternated wins and losses.

Last year, in York, the Wildcats defeated the Flyers, 16-6.

Wednesday, on a sunny and warm afternoon (70 degrees at the start), following a Senior Day ceremony, York hoped to beat Waynflete for the third straight time, but instead, the Flyers downed the Wildcats for the first time since a 6-5 overtime triumph in 2019.

Kelly set the tone by winning the opening draw, then with 21:47 to go in the first half, Kelly passed up a shot on a free position and instead set up Birknes to put Waynflete on top for good.

Kelly scored for the first time with 18:03 remaining, eluding the defense, then finishing unassisted on York senior goalie Dilyana Djenkova.

After Kelly hit the post, Flyers senior goalie Pippa Huffard came up big, saving a free position shot from Wildcats sophomore Sophia Luchette.

Then, with 12:14 left, Birknes finished a pass from Wilson, normally a low defender who also saw time on offense Wednesday, to make it 3-0.

After York coach Meghan Clark took timeout, the Flyers kept the pressure on, as after Kelly hit the post again, sophomore Skylar Harris fought through the defense and scored with 9:50 remaining, then with 8:14 showing, Kelly again left the defense in her wake before scoring unassisted for a 5-0 advantage.

The Wildcats finally broke through with 4:56 on the clock, as sophomore Ava Fontaine scored unassisted, but 48 seconds later, Birknes answered with a free position shot.

York pulled within four again with 2:51 remaining, as in transition, junior Grace Clayton set up senior Abby Armlin for a shot that Huffard couldn’t stop, but after Kelly scored on a free position with 1:09 to go, she scored again, from Lucy Sarno, 21 seconds later for a commanding 8-2 halftime lead.

Kelly won seven of 11 first half draws and Waynflete had a 15-5 shots advantage while forcing 17 turnovers in the first 25 minutes.

“Our communication on defense was right on,” said Wilson. “Our goalie was active and talking. We had a little more energy than normal and intercepted passes. Our ride made it so our middies didn’t get tired.”

The Flyers then navigated some anxious moments in the second half before putting it away.

Kelly began the second half in style by winning the draw, racing in and scoring unassisted just 10 seconds in.

Wilson then got to take a free position with 23:26 on the clock, and she finished to make it 10-2.

“It’s always fun to get involved on offense,” Wilson said. “Low D is a new position for me. I enjoy playing it, but I like being in the offensive action too. It was nice to make a shot.”

The Wildcats then rose off the deck, as after sophomore Emerson Joyce scored on a free position shot with 21:52 to go, senior Ella Boissonneault went coast-to-coast and scored unassisted three minutes later before Fontaine finished a feed from junior Annastasia Doughty with 18:58 remaining, cutting the deficit to 10-5 and forcing Connors to call timeout.

It had the desired effect, as Kelly spun and shot and scored unassisted a minute later.

Then, with 16:01 left, Joyce found Doughty to make it a five-goal game again, but York would draw no closer, as Huffard saved shots from Fontaine and Doughty.

With 8:10 remaining, in transition, Kelly pounced on a loose ball, then fired it home to make it 12-6.

With 5:38 to play, Kelly set up senior Keegan Dolan for another goal.

Sixteen seconds later, Luchette scored the Wildcats’ final goal, unassisted, then off the ensuing draw, Kelly again won possession and raced in and scored unassisted.

Huffard stole show down the stretch, saving promising shots from Armlin, Doughty and Clayton and that slammed the door on the 14-7 victory.

“I was motivated for the seniors and we lost Senior Day last year, so we wanted to win this one,” said Kelly. “I think it’s just a team effort. There was a lot of individual play before, but now, we’re all working as a team on the transition and on the ride and that’s been essential. We trust our teammates. We just kept fighting back and getting the draw. We knew we wanted this game. (York) came back and it scared us a little bit and we kept pushing.”

“Honestly, I think the team’s love for the seniors was there,” Wilson said. “Pregame felt really good. The seniors got some gifts and it felt really nice. We’ve known what we’re capable of, but it took some adversity at the start of the season to turn things around.”

“This was really encouraging because last year, they beat us by a lot,” Connors added. “We hoped to win our final six games and we did that to get to .500. I’m really proud of them. We talked about everyone having to do their job and we did that today. Everyone kept their composure. We won draws, Tilsley was amazing. (Sophomore) Fallon (Culley) and Lydia on the circle were great. That was huge for us.”

Kelly, who has had multiple seven goal games in her career, scored eight for the first time, while assisting on two others. She also dominated in the draw circle, winning 17 of 23 opportunities.

“I think I just got into a rhythm and I just build up confidence and know I can do it,” Kelly said. “Most of it is because my teammates work so hard to get me the ball in a perfect spot. My favorite part is assisting on beautiful cuts.”

“Tilsley just has a beautiful stick, then we have (Lydia) who can score and other shooters, so we’re spreading it out, which is nice,” Connors said.

Birknes scored three times and Dolan, Harris and Wilson finished with one goal apiece.

“Other girls really want to score too,” Wilson said. “They’re building up confidence.”

Sarno and Wilson also had one assist.

Huffard made eight key saves.

Waynflete enjoyed a 54-31 advantage in ground balls (Kelly led the way with a game-high 11, Birknes collected eight and Wilson finished with six), had a 24-17 edge in shots (17-15 on frame) and overcame 26 turnovers.

York got two goals from Fontaine and one apiece from Armlin, Boissonneault, Doughty, Joyce and Luchette.

Clayton, Doughty and Joyce also had assists.

Djenkova made three saves.

Fontaine had a team-high five ground balls.

The Wildcats turned the ball over 24 times, with 17 of those coming in the first half.

“The second half was definitely better for us,” Clark said. “Fifty-fifty balls really crushed us today. If we were able to win those, it would have been a much closer game. Everyone was going 100 percent, but we couldn’t get possession or 50-50 balls.”

Let the fun begin

York will likely be the No. 7 seed in Class B for the upcoming tournament, which begins next week.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a homefield advantage for (the preliminary round),” Clark said. “We’ll have some tough matchups on the road and we’ll probably be traveling far. We have nothing to lose. We’re looking forward to it.”

Waynflete, meanwhile, appears locked into the No. 7 spot in Class C. The Flyers will have a preliminary round home game in the Class C state-wide playoffs next week and if victorious, would go to No. 2 NYA for the quarterfinals.

Good luck stopping this red-hot team now.

“We just have to keep working on the things we’ve been working on all year,” Wilson said. “Our skill is there. We just have to keep connecting as a team and I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue.”

“I think we can make a run,” Kelly said. “Freshman year (when we won states) felt the same, so I’m really hopeful.”

“I think the girls can do it,’ Connors added. “They really want it. It started in the Gorham game, they got the feel, and ending it like this is really good. They keep surprising us. We’ll see what happens.”

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

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