Nic Boudreau of Cape Elizabeth fires a shot over two Gorham defenders during the Capers’ 16-9 win Wednesday. Boudreau’s return after he missed last season because of an injury strengthens an already deep roster for the reigning Class A champions. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Be forewarned. The Cape Elizabeth boys’ lacrosse team could be better than they were last year when they rolled to the Class A championship.

“Ridiculous loaded,” said Greely Coach Mike Storey, whose Rangers will play Cape twice in the regular season. “I believe they will live up to the hype, but it’s not a real concern for us because we’re in (Class) B.”

Cape Elizabeth outscored its opponents 269-65 last season while compiling a 16-0 record. The Capers were only challenged by one team, Berwick Academy, which was playing an MPA schedule last spring because of out-of-state pandemic travel restrictions. Berwick has returned to its regular independent school schedule this year.

Tiernan Lathrop, right, celebrates with Bobby Offit after scoring a goal against Gorham. Lathrop was a Varsity Maine All-State selection last year. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The Capers return their midfield from last year – Varsity Maine All-State selections Tiernan Lathrop and Colin Campbell and athletic Caden Lee. Plus, they get back Nic Boudreau, who was considered Cape’s top all-around player headed into the 2021 season but was unable to play because of a knee injury that ultimately required surgery. And the team has added goalie Simon Algara, who started for Class B champ Yarmouth last season.

Several players have committed to play in college. Lathrop and junior long-stick middie Nate Patterson have committed to Division I Bryant University. Boudreau plans to play at Yale. Campbell is headed to Bowdoin.

Then there are all-around athletes like Caden McDuffie and Nick Laughlin in the defensive end. McDuffie (quarterback), a senior, and Laughlin (receiver/running back), a junior, were huge keys to Cape’s Class C championship football season.

Cape opened its regular season with a 21-4 win against Kennebunk on Friday, then gave Coach Ben Raymond his 300th career win with a 16-9 victory over Gorham on Wednesday.

In an effort to test his team, Raymond scheduled scrimmages against Bridgton Academy, Newburyport High in Massachusetts, and strong New Hampshire programs Londonderry High and Bishop Guertin of Nashua.

“(We) will be challenged by our out-of-state competition,” he said. “Technically scrimmages, but if we wear a uniform, we treat the game as a real game.”

IN THE THREE seasons since its inception, Class C has served as a useful proving ground for new programs. But come playoff time, established lacrosse programs at Waynflete and North Yarmouth Academy have dominated. Waynflete won state titles in 2018 and 2021, and NYA won in 2019.

But other programs are closing the gap. Wells, for example, has 43 players in its program and only five are seniors. The Warriors lost just four players from last year’s varsity team, which went 10-5 and lost in the semifinals to Oak Hill (another rising team). Wells has strong returners across the field.

When Wells Coach Matt Petrie was asked when he thought his team could compete with the powers, he said, “I would argue that it started last year. We played Waynflete to an 11-6 loss. We only lost to four teams last year, and three of them were in a state championship game.”

Freeport might be another team to watch. The Falcons were 1-12 a year ago and lost to Wells in the preliminary round of the state tournament, but the Falcons’ second-year coach, Kevin Woods, noted that the team had just one senior. Freeport’s middle school team was undefeated in 2021, and Woods’ roster has grown from 24 to 35 players.

NEW CO-OP TEAMS have been formed this season. In Class C, Gray-New Gloucester has added players from Poland. The team will go by the nickname “26ers,” because both schools are located on Route 26. Last season, Gray-New Gloucester went 6-6 in the regular season, beat Lake Region in a playoff game and lost to eventual champion Waynflete in the quarterfinals. Tyler DeMoore-Gonzalez is the team’s first-year coach. … Morse, which has moved to Class C after a 2-11 season in Class B last year, has also added reinforcements with 11 players from Boothbay.

THERE ARE NEW coaches in York County, as Billy McNamara takes over at York High and Mat Moreland replaces 2021 Varsity Maine Coach of the Year Ralph Ruocco at Marshwood. Both teams have enough talented returning players to be a threat in Class B. York got off to a good start with a 13-5 win against Greely in its season opener.

Marshwood opened at Class A Scarborough and lost 10-3, “but they played really well. I just don’t think the score really showed it. After the first quarter it was 2-2,” said Moreland, who was an assistant coach at Marshwood in 2019 and 2021 and played on the first Marshwo0d lacrosse team in 1995.

Last season, Marshwood advanced to the Class B title game. Unfortunately for the Hawks, goalie Silas Hamblett, who would have been a junior, transferred to a private school.

Kennebunk also is without its expected goalie. Jacek Kudas, a 2021 Varsity Maine All-State selection, is out for the season because of an injury.

SOUTH PORTLAND IS expected to improve from an uncharacteristic 2-12 season, in part because it gets junior goalie Ben Kieu back from an injury. Coach Dan Hanley calls Kieu “one of the top goalies in Maine, (a) big lefty, confident in the clearing game.” The Red Riots graduated only one player after going with a sophomore-laden lineup in 2021.