PORTLAND—Last spring, Waynflete’s boys’ lacrosse team needed nearly 54 palpitating minutes to survive North Yarmouth Academy in the Class C state final.
Friday afternoon at Fore River Fields, the longtime rivals met again and this time, the Flyers only needed 20-plus minutes to emerge victorious.
Thanks to a big assist from Mother Nature.
This time around, it wasn’t Jacob Woodman bringing the game to a close, but instead, recurring thunder in the area brought the contest to an end with 3:24 still to play in the first half, with Waynflete on top, 3-1.
Normally, a high school boys’ lacrosse game has to enter the second half to be considered official, but since it was the regular season finale and since there was no option to make it up Saturday on the final makeup day, due to SAT testing and Proms, athletic directors Ross Burdick of Waynflete and Kelsy Ross of NYA agreed beforehand that if bad weather ended the contest, the team that was leading would be deemed the winner.
And as a result, the Flyers will be the top seed for the upcoming postseason tournament.
The contest began in sunshine and it was clear from the opening faceoff that the teams were pretty equal, as sophomore Zach Leinwand scored an early man-up goal for the Panthers before senior Seth Cloutier answered man-up for Waynflete, which could have been up after one quarter were it not for six saves from NYA senior goalie Jack Curtis.
With the sky turning ominous to start the second period, getting the lead was paramount and it was the Flyers who went on top with 6:44 on the first half clock, as senior Liam Anderson fed Cloutier to give Waynflete the lead for good.
Cloutier struck again for a little breathing room with 5:34 remaining and with 3:24 showing, the contest was stopped by thunder in the area.
The teams were planning to wait out a mandated 30-minute delay, but three more bouts of thunder followed and after 35 minutes, the contest was called and the Flyers had a most unorthodox 3-1 victory.
Waynflete finished the regular season 12-2 and in the process, dropped the Panthers to 9-5, while leaving everyone on hand hoping the teams will meet once more, in two weeks, with the big prize at stake.
“I know there are a lot of guys on that side who wanted to get this one and I know they want to see us again in the playoffs and we do too,” said Flyers coach Andrew Leach. “Anytime you get Waynflete-NYA, it’s going to be a great game. This one would have been a classic.”
Always memorable
Last June 17, Waynflete and NYA put on an unforgettable show in the Class C state final at Fitzpatrick Stadium, as the Panthers tied the score with just 2.2 seconds to go in regulation and after a scoreless first overtime, the longest (and arguably most exciting) state game of them all ended when Woodman, then a sophomore, scored 45 seconds into the second OT for a 9-8 Flyers’ victory.
Waynflete returned just about everyone from that squad and as a result, entered the 2023 campaign as the favorite and the Flyers haven’t disappointed.
Waynflete started by downing visiting Wells, 6-4, After a 10-7 setback at York, the Flyers beat host Freeport (9-4), held off visiting Greely (12-11), then handled visiting Oak Hill, 11-4, before a furious late comeback fell just short in a 6-5 home loss to Class A power South Portland. Waynflete then rebounded and defeated visiting Lake Region (12-1), host Windham (11-6), host Traip Academy (17-3), visiting Gray-New Gloucester (18-1), host Cheverus (16-3), host Yarmouth (10-8) and visiting Gorham (12-0).
NYA, meanwhile, entered the year expecting to be the Flyers’ top challenger and the Panthers are hitting their stride at the right time.
NYA handled visiting Maranacook in their opener (17-2) and after a 13-9 home loss to South Portland, beat visiting Gray-New Gloucester (15-2) and host Gardiner (8-6), but the Panthers then lost at home to Wells (9-4) and at York (12-9). NYA began its resurgence with a 12-6 home win over Greely, then won at Freeport (9-5) and Lake Region (14-3), at home over Oak Hill (12-2), at Fryeburg Academy (16-4) and at home over Freeport (11-4) before letting a late lead slip away in a heartbreaking 10-9 overtime home loss to crosstown rival Yarmouth Tuesday.
NYA won the regular season meeting over Waynflete last season and hoped to do so again Friday, but instead Flyers went on top in the second quarter and that proved to be enough to produce likely the quickest victory in program history.
Both goalies came up big in the first minute, as Waynflete senior Avi Israel robbed Leinwand just 13 seconds in and at the other end, Curtis denied Cloutier.
The Panthers then went man-up and with 10:17 to play in the opening stanza, freshman Gavin Thomas set up Leinwand for a shot that Israel couldn’t stop and NYA struck first.
But the Panthers wouldn’t score again.
Curtis preserved the lead by denying a shot from Woodman, while junior Haven Savory Kreiss, Cloutier and senior Jasper Curtis all missed wide.
With 6:57 to go in the first, the Flyers drew even, as Cloutier took a pass from senior Roan Hopkins and scored a man-up goal.
Cloutier was injured in the season opener against Wells and didn’t return until the eighth game, a win at Windham, but he has been a force who has made up for lost time ever since.
“Having Roan play next to him and the way Roan can share the ball and the way Seth can move off-ball, Seth does a great job finishing,” Leach said. “He can find it. His footwork is much improved. Not having him really hurt us, but since he’s come back, it’s opened up our offense.”
Jack Curtis then impressed by denying a shot from junior Nico Kirby, robbing Cloutier after Anderson made a long run and fed him near the crease, then turning aside a shot from Woodman, his sixth save, to keep the score 1-1 after 12 minutes.
With the weather deteriorating by the minute, the next goal loomed large and when NYA went man-up with 7:30 left in the half, the Panthers were poised to go on top, but they turned the ball over, Anderson made a long run into the offensive zone, then he set up Cloutier for a shot which found the net with 6:44 showing to put the Flyers in front.
“I love playing offense,” said Anderson. “I’ve found Seth a couple times this year. I’ve taken a lot of shots this season and I have a couple goals, but I love to assist. It was very exciting. I love these games, playing good opponents. I get up for these games.”
“Liam was a difference-maker on both sides of the ball,” said Leach. “I’ve been telling everybody and I’ll keep telling everybody that I think he’s the best close defenseman in the state. Both the pressure he can put on and he’s an offensive threat as well.”
After Jack Curtis robbed Cloutier, Waynflete went man-up and with 5:34 remaining, after a failed clear from Curtis, senior Cole Isherwood quickly got the ball to Cloutier, who buried his shot to make it 3-1.
“I missed a few on the doorstep, but in the second quarter, we started to get momentum and took the lead,” said Cloutier.
“We finally started reading where their slides were coming from,” Leach said. “We got more openings and got better angle shots. They have a great goalie and you have to get great angles against him.”
Senior Wyatt Thomas tried to answer for NYA, but his shot was saved by Israel.
Then, with 3:24 on the clock, thunder was heard and the game was suspended.
Had 30 minutes passed without any additional thunder (or lightning), the game would have resumed, but on three different occasions with the teams playing the waiting game, more thunder was heard and after a 35 minute wait, with no relief in sight, the contest was called and Waynflete prevailed, 3-1.
“It was very important to start the game off strong,” said Cloutier. “It would have felt better to win (in 48 minutes). It feels a little shaky, but we’ll take it.”
“We had talked beforehand that we had to jump on them early, whether we were playing a full game or not, and I’m glad we were able to do that,” Leach said. “I feel terrible we couldn’t get a full game in, but I have a good feeling we’re going to see them again.”
Cloutier scored all three goals for the Flyers and all three were assisted, by Anderson, Hopkins and Isherwood respectively.
Israel saved two of the three shots he faced.
Jasper Curtis had a team-high three ground balls.
Waynflete had a 20-7 advantage in shots (11-3 on frame) and only turned the ball over four times.
NYA got a goal from Leinwand and an assist from Gavin Thomas.
Jack Curtis made eight saves.
“We lean on Jack to keep us in games and to compete with really good teams,” said Panthers coach Peter Gerrity. “We do a good job of giving him savable shots.”
The Panthers won all six faceoffs and had a 13-7 advantage on ground balls (senior Jonah Donnelly and junior Grey Perham each scooped up three). NYA had 10 turnovers, however.
“It’s super-disappointing,” said Gerrity. “We’ve had this circled on our calendar all year. This game in particular. It was vitally important to get a lead. We felt OK with just the one. We got a little bit of the jitters out. They play so aggressive on defense that it took us a minute to adjust to it. We just needed to do more on offense.”
Three teams to watch
Waynflete and NYA could meet again in the postseason, but there’s a third team, Wells, that is very much in the title mix as well, making this year’s tournament the most interesting one yet since the sport went to three classes in 2018.
The Panthers will be the No. 3 seed behind Wells in Class C and will host a state quarterfinal round contest, likely on June 10.
“I’m hoping we can stay three and we’d absolutely like to see (Waynflete) again,” said Gerrity. “We just need to polish some stuff and make sure we do everything right. If we make a mistake against a team like (Waynflete), it’s a goal. We feel good about our chances.”
The Flyers will also return to action June 10, at home, in the quarterfinal round.
“We just need to stay focused,” said Cloutier. “We need to be very disciplined. Having homefield is really important. We seem to be playing really well at home this year. We’ll take advantage of that.”
“I think we’ve done alright, but personally, I don’t think we’ve done enough,” Anderson said. “We’ve got so much more to prove. There’s a lot of competition we’ve faced this year. South Portland was a great team we played. York, I’d love to get that game back, they’re a great team. Wells is a great team. We can see them again and NYA played us tough too.”
“I’m thrilled with our season so far,” Leach added. “We lost some starters early in the season. It’s amazing where we’re at right now and I’m excited to keep it going with this group. It’s more than just us and NYA. Wells is a great team. Oak Hill, Freeport. Everybody wants to beat us and we know that.
“I want to send our seniors off the right way. It’s a great group of young men and I want to do it right.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.
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