WATERBORO — Every time the Kennebunk and Massabesic girls lacrosse teams have met in the past few years, the games seem to follow the same script: The Rams take an early lead, the Mustangs come back in the second half and the game is decided in the last few minutes, usually by one goal.

In Monday night’s season-opener, Kennebunk again got out to an early lead. But this time, there was no Massabesic rally.

The Rams got off to a great start, scoring the first four goals in the opening 20 minutes, and never looked back, building the lead to 8-2 early in the second half and withstanding a late Mustangs’ charge to walk away with a 10-7 victory in an inter-class game at Massabesic High School.

It was the eighth time in the last nine meetings between the two teams to be decided by three goals or less, including a pair of one-goal classics last season: Kennebunk winning 8-7 in overtime in the regular season before Massabesic took a 7-6 victory in the Western Maine Class A regional final.

Considering that, the win Monday, even in the first game of the season, was just a little bit sweeter for the Rams.

“Losing by one to go to states last year was devastating, so to get it back today feels amazing,” Kennebunk senior midfielder Allie Truman said. “It’s great to start the season with a win, especially against this team.”

Kyra Schwartzman and Jenny Bush led Kennebunk with three goals apiece, including three of the four in the opening 20-minute salvo that set the tone. The Rams also got two second-half goals from Haley Fecko, while Truman provided two second-half assists.

“This is the first time that we’ve had everyone all healthy since preseason began, so it was nice to see them put it together and get it done,” Kennebunk coach Annie Barker said. “They did on this field today what they’ve been taught so far, and pretty impressively I think.”

With a completely new defensive core from last season, Massabesic struggled to contain Kennebunk’s motion offense early on. Olivia Sandford opened the scoring after two minutes with a free position goal, followed five minutes later by Bush picking up a ground ball at the side of the net and slotting a shot past Mustangs goalie Megan Hill.

Schwartzman then followed with a pair of goals off quick cuts, receiving passes in front, first from Sandford and then Kristen Koch, and both times finishing at close range to make it 4-0.

On the other side, Rams sophomore goalie Bella Kudas, starting her first-ever game at the varsity level, stopped the first six shots on her cage as Kennebunk opened up the lead.

“Our shot selection wasn’t good in the first half, and I think if we stick a couple of those first five or six shots in, then the attitude changes a little bit and the momentum changes a little bit,” Massabesic coach Brooks Bowen said. “This is a tough game to be chasing in.”

Massabesic got goals from Maquila Dimastrantonio and Rayne Whitten sandwiched around a Fecko strike to make it 6-2 at half. But things went from bad to worse for the Mustangs 19 seconds after the restart when Jackie Guillemette was given a two-minute penalty for dangerous play, and the Rams took advantage of the extra man as Schwartzman and Fecko scored to push the lead to 8-2.

Massabesic was able to make a stand over the next 10 minutes, scoring four of the next five goals to cut the deficit to 9-6 with 11:13 left.

But the game turned for good with eight minutes to play, when a quick Mustangs transition ended with Guillemette’s shot careening off the left post. The Rams picked up the ball and made a length of the field transition move themselves that ended with Truman finding Bush in front to make it 10-6, and all but end any doubts as to the final outcome.

“We just had to tell ourselves to amp it back again because they weren’t going away,” Truman said. “We knew we had to be composed and keep our cool, and that’s what we did. It was a good run for us.”

Led by Bush, Kennebunk won 10 of the 19 faceoffs at the draw circle, while Massabesic turned the ball over 15 times to the Rams’ 13. Kudas made 10 saves in an impressive debut, while Hill made four stops behind a defense that Bowen saw improving as the game progressed.

“We knew we had room for growth in pretty much every area of the game, and that’s what you saw from the first half to the second half ”“ growth,” Bowen said. “I was proud of the way they battled, because anyone could have laid down when they felt it slipping away early.

“Kennebunk is very good, very skilled and their concept of the game is very good. I’m just so proud of the way we stuck together and battled them in the second half.”

With the Rams moving down to Class B this season, these teams won’t be renewing their rivalry come playoff time this season. But don’t expect to see the regular-season matchup taken off the schedule any time soon, either.

“The game is always interesting to say the least,” Bowen said. “And even though they’re Class B now, we’re still going to try to keep this game hanging around, because I think both programs really thrive on it.

“Obviously, you’d like to come away with a win against this Kennebunk team, but they earned it tonight.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.