It happened in most unorthodox fashion, but Waynflete’s boys’ lacrosse team wrapped up the top seed for the upcoming Class C state tournament Friday afternoon at Fore River Fields, with a little help from Mother Nature.
The Flyers, who needed more than 50 minutes to outlast rival North Yarmouth Academy in an unforgettable double-overtime state final last June, played just a little more than 20 minutes against the Panthers this time around, as multiple thunder delays late in the second quarter caused the game to be halted with Waynflete ahead, 3-1.
High school boys’ lacrosse games need to enter the second half to be deemed official, but in anticipation of bad weather, and with SAT testing and proms preventing a rescheduled contest Saturday on the last available makeup day before the end of the regular season, administrators of the two schools agreed beforehand that a winner would be determined regardless of when the contest ended.
“We knew we had to jump on them early, whether we were going to play a full game or not, and I’m glad we were able to do that,” said Waynflete Coach Andrew Leach. “I feel terrible we weren’t able to get the full game in, but I have a feeling we’ll see (NYA) again.”
Waynflete finished the regular season at 12-2 and will be ranked first for the state tournament, which begins next week.
NYA (9-5) projects to be the No. 3 seed, which means the two teams possibly could meet again in the state final.
“It’s super-disappointing to not get the game in,” said NYA Coach Peter Gerrity. “We’ve had this game circled on our calendar for a long time.”
The game began in sunshine and NYA struck first, as Zach Leinwand scored a man-up goal less than two minutes in.
Seth Cloutier tied it with 6:57 left in the first quarter, and the Flyers had some great chances to go on top later in the quarter, but NYA goalie Jack Curtis made six of his eight saves.
The sky then turned ominous in the second quarter. Waynflete went ahead to stay when Liam Anderson collected a loose ball in the defensive end, raced down the field, then set up Cloutier for a man-down goal.
“I get up for these games,” said Anderson. “I love to play offense and get assists. I’ve found Seth a couple times this year.”
Waynflete made it 3-1 on a man-up goal from Cloutier with 5:34 on the clock.
With 3:24 left in the half, thunder was heard in the vicinity, forcing play to be stopped for a mandated 30 minutes.
But periodic thunder continued and play was never resumed.
“It would have felt better to win in 48 minutes,” Cloutier said. “This feels a little shaky, but we’ll take it.”
Both teams expect to meet again and if that happens, it would be at Fitzpatrick Stadium in the state final.
“There are a lot of guys on NYA who want to see us again in the playoffs and we want to see them, too,” Leach said. “Anytime you get Waynflete-NYA, it’s a classic, and this would have been, too.”
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