PORTLAND — As the shadows grew longer, Kennebunk’s task did, too.

The No. 4 Rams were consistently pinned in their own end of the field in the second half by Cheverus attackers, and ultimately fell to the Stags, 3-2, in a Western Maine Class A field hockey quarter final contest, Wednesday.

Taylor Witham’s goal, 12:22 into the second half proved to be decisive, and denied the Rams a chance to advance to a regional semifinal tilt.

“There was a lot of back and forth,” said Kennebunk coach Kayla Hinkley. “The differencc between the first and the second half is that we weren’t able to keep (the ball) on the strong side of the field. That makes all the difference in the world, unfortunately.”

Kennebunk trailed, 1-0, after the 11:57 mark, then replied with tallies by Emily Vieria and Taylor Radomski.

Both of them were set up by nifty feeds from Kate Murphy.

However, by the end of the half, Cheverus had knotted the contest again, 2-2, on a goal  by Sarah LaQuerre.

“They were putting their stronger players on some of our stronger players. We weren’t making the connections quite as easily as we have been.”

After Witham’s tally, the Cheverus defense stiffened, and allowed Ram attackers to make just a handful of trips downfield toward the Stags goal.

“Unfortunately we ran out of time,” said Hinkley.

— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.