No drama this time.
A year after winning the Class C championship in double overtime, the Waynflete boys’ lacrosse team used tight defense, a 15-save effort by goalie Avi Israel and pinpoint shooting to win its title-game rematch with North Yarmouth Academy, 14-6, before a modest crowd Monday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Top-seeded Waynflete (15-2) won its fourth title in the five years since Class C lacrosse debuted in 2018, including its third straight championship. No. 3 North Yarmouth Academy, which won the other Class C title in 2019, finished 11-6.
Israel was supported by close defenders Liam Anderson, Fletcher Polsky and Henry Curtis. NYA scored just once in the first quarter, twice in the second and were shut out in the third as Waynflete built leads of 5-1 after the first quarter, 10-3 at halftime and 13-3 after three quarters.
“It starts with the coaches. We had weekend practices and we had scouting and we knew what they were doing and we practiced it and that’s huge,” Anderson said. “But individually, it’s just our defense. We’re tenacious. We get out on hands, we’re coached that way. We’re athletic.”
Waynflete Coach Andrew Leach said he didn’t expect the game to be as lopsided on the scoresheet but did “see matchups that we loved.” In particular, Leach liked Anderson and Polsky on NYA’s top scoring attackmen, James Brogan-Provencher and Brayden Warde. Brogan-Provencher did not score. Warde scored NYA’s final goal.
“I felt good about what we had and I knew this group of seniors would not have any of that ‘look-ahead-and-think-this-is-a-coronation’ type of thing. They knew this was not going to be a guarantee,” Leach said.
Waynflete carried 13 seniors on its roster and started eight, including faceoff man Max Polsky.
Seniors Roan Hopkins (three goals, three assists) and Seth Cloutier (five goals) led the offensive charge. They each had three goals in the first half.
“For the most part, our dodges were just quick, fast, we were getting open,” Hopkins said. “Seth does a great job finding openings (to) the net, and he also creates a ton of space for other people.”
Jacob Woodman and Cole Isherwood each scored two goals, and Haven Savory Kreiss and Fletcher Polsky scored one each for Waynflete.
Gavin Thomas and Zach Leinwand scored twice for NYA, with Warde and Nolan Pecora scoring once. The Panthers finished with a 31-29 edge in shots.
“We know that their D is good and Liam Anderson is excellent and Fletcher Polsky is very good, and that was going to be a struggle for us,” said NYA Coach Peter Gerrity.
“Normally our attack is putting in the majority of the goals, and today they struggled because their D is that strong. We’ve been able to produce from the midfield. We just couldn’t do it today.”
The game was played Monday because rain forced postponement of all state championship games on Saturday.
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