Cape boys pull away in second half to down Scarborough

BOX SCORE

Cape Elizabeth 14 Scarborough 8

CE- 2 5 4 3- 14
S- 4 2 1 1- 8

First period
9:54 CE Campbell (K. Lathrop)
9:36 S O. Pedersen (unassisted)
8:24 S Fogarty (unassisted) (MAN-UP)
7:30 CE K. Lathrop (Campbell)
4:26 S F. Pedersen (unassisted)
2:32 S F. Pedersen (Carlista)

Second period
11:18 CE T. Lathrop (K. Lathrop)
8:47 CE T. Lathrop (unassisted)
7:20 CE K. Lathrop (unassisted)
6:22 S F. Pedersen (unassisted)
2:04 CE Lee (T. Lathrop) (MAN-UP)
1:55 CE Boudreau (K. Lathrop)
11.9 S Flaker (unassisted)

Third period
10:00 CE T. Lathrop (Lee)
8:17 CE Boudreau (unassisted)
4:01 CE Boudreau (K. Lathrop)
3:12 S O. Pedersen (unasssisted)
0.4 CE T. Lathrop (Lee)

Fourth period
11:31 CE Lee (unassisted)
10:50 CE T. Lathrop (unassisted)
10:04 CE T. Lathrop (Campbell)
49.1 S F. Pedersen (Carlista)

Goals:
CE- T. Lathrop 6, Boudreau 3, K. Lathrop, Lee 2, Campbell 1
S- F. Pedersen 4, O. Pedersen 2, Flaker, Fogarty 1

Assists:
CE- K. Lathrop 4, Lee 3, Campbell 2
S- Carlista 2

Faceoffs (Cape Elizabeth, 13-12 )
CE- Moon 13 of 24, Patterson 0 of 1
S- Rumelhart 11 of 20, Park 1 of 2, Carlista 0 of 1, Day 0 of 1, McKeen 0 of 1

Ground balls:
CE- 32
S- 27

Turnovers:
CE- 12
S- 22

Shots:
CE- 45
S- 23

Shots on cage:
CE- 30
S- 12

Saves:
CE (Shur) 4
S (Kerbel) 16

SCARBOROUGH—Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ lacrosse team won 15 of its 16 games by lopsided margins a year ago en route to the Class A state title.

This spring, the Capers have found the going a little tougher, but even though they’ve received a couple tests, they’ve passed them with flying colors.

Monday evening at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex, Cape Elizabeth battled host Scarborough in a battle of unbeaten teams and while the Red Storm hung tough for most of three quarters, ultimately, the Capers’ firepower wouldn’t be denied.

Especially the firepower of senior standout Tiernan Lathrop.

Scarborough, which lost by 11 goals to visiting Cape Elizabeth last season, staggered the Capers early, as senior Finn Pedersen scored twice to help open up a 4-2 lead after one quarter.

But Lathrop scored his first two goals early in the second period and a tally from senior Caden Lee helped Cape Elizabeth cling to a 7-6 advantage at the half.

The Capers then tightened up on defense. controlled possession and got a goal from Lathrop and two from senior Nic Boudreau for some breathing room in the third quarter. After sophomore Olin Pedersen got a goal back for the Red Storm, Lathrop turned the tide for good when he scored with less than a second remaining, making the score 11-7 heading for the final stanza.

There, Lee scored 29 seconds in and Lathrop scored his final two goals, helping Cape Elizabeth go on to a 14-8 victory.

Lathrop scored six goals as the Capers improved to 6-0 on the season, won their 22nd consecutive game overall, stayed perfect all-time versus Scarborough and handed the Red Storm their first setback in six outings.

“It’s definitely good to have these games,” Lathrop said. “It humbles us and makes us work harder in practice and makes us better. Our practices the past week have been really intense.”

Only a matter of time

The Red Storm opened their 2022 campaign with victories over visiting Marshwood (10-3), host Windham (13-8) and host Deering (22-1), rallied for a 9-6 home win over South Portland, then downed host Bonny Eagle (18-4).

Cape Elizabeth, meanwhile, started with home victories over Kennebunk (21-4) and Gorham (16-9), giving longtime coach Ben Raymond his 300th win in the process, then won at two-time reigning Class B champion Yarmouth (14-5), held on for an 11-10 victory at Falmouth, then defeated visiting Greely, 17-4.

The teams met last year in the regular season finale, where the visiting Capers capped an undefeated campaign with a decisive 16-5 win.

Monday, Scarborough hoped to make history, but instead, Cape Elizabeth took control in the second half and continued its dominance in the series, remaining perfect all-time (see sidebar, below, for recent results).

While the Capers struck first, as sophomore Keegan Lathrop set up senior Colin Campbell for a goal two minutes in, the Red Storm soon soared into the lead.

With 9:36 to go in the first period, Olin Pedersen scooped up a loose ball in front, turned and fired it past Cape Elizabeth senior goalie Fred Shur.

Senior Quinn Fogarty then scored unassisted with 8:24 on the clock to give Scarborough the lead.

Keegan Lathrop would tie it up (from Campbell) 54 seconds later, but Red Storm sophomore goalie Ben Kerbel stood tall the rest of the frame, robbing Lee and Campbell.

Finn Pedersen put the Red Storm back on top with an unassisted tally with 4:26 remaining, then senior Jack Carlista fed Finn Pedersen for another goal with 2:32 on the clock and after Campbell hit the post and Kerbel robbed Lee, Scarborough held a 4-2 advantage through 12 minutes.

But boys’ lacrosse games require 48 minutes and the second period would see the Capers respond.

Just 42 seconds in, Tiernan Lathrop scored for the first time, taking a feed from his brother and beating Kerbel.

With 8:47 to go in the half, Tiernan Lathrop unassisted to tie it and with 7:20 on the clock, after a turnover, Keegan Lathrop raced in and finished unassisted to give Cape Elizabeth a 5-4 lead.

Finn Pedersen managed to tie the game for the fourth and final time with 6:22 remaining, scoring unassisted, but after Kerbel denied sophomore Sam Cochran, Campbell and Tiernan Lathrop, the Capers went ahead to stay with 2:04 left, as Tiernan Lathrop set up Lee for a man-up shot which bounced off Kerbel and over the line for a 6-5 advantage.

Junior Sebastian Moon won the ensuing faceoff to Keegan Lathrop, who passed to Boudreau for another goal with 1:55 showing.

The Red Storm got a little momentum back when senior defenseman Jayden Flaker, best known for his dominance in football and track, forced a turnover, then raced all the way up the field before beating Shur with 1:19 on the clock, cutting the deficit to 7-6 at halftime.

In the first half, Cape Elizabeth had a 23-12 shots advantage (17-8 on cage), but 10 saves from Kerbel kept things very interesting.

The Capers gradually opened it up in the third quarter.

Two minutes in, Lee set up Tiernan Lathrop.

“First few minutes in the third quarter, we go as hard as possible,” said Lathrop. “Whoever wins that start has momentum for the rest of the game, which can carry you to a win. We call it the ‘Bulldog Blitz,’ for Bryant (University), where (junior defensive standout) Nate (Patterson) and I are going to college.”

After Kerbel robbed Cochran, Boudreau scored unassisted with 8:17 on the clock and with 4:01 left, Boudreau finished a feed from Keegan Lathrop to make it 10-6.

Olin Pedersen got a goal back 49 seconds later, scoring unassisted, but in a backbreaking turn of events, Tiernan Lathrop took a pass from Lee and shot the ball past Kerbel with just 0.4 seconds showing.

“That just brought excitement and energy,” Lathrop said.

“Caden made a great play not shooting it himself and making the extra pass and Tiernan made a great shot,” Raymond said. “We tell the guys that it has to be about you, how you handle the situations and how you play. When we share the ball and move the ball, we’re really hard to beat.”

Cape Elizabeth took an 11-7 lead to the fourth period, where it ended all doubt.

Just 29 seconds into the fourth, Lee scored unassisted and just like that, a three-goal game had turned into a five-goal difference.

With 10:50 to play, Tiernan Lathrop scored unassisted and 46 seconds later, he scored his sixth and final goal, set up by Campbell, for a commanding 14-7 advantage.

After senior Jeremiah Park hit the post and Shur denied Finn Pedersen, Pedersen scored the game’s final goal with 49.1 seconds to go, from Carlista, but the Capers went on to a 14-8 victory.

“I know Scarborough was pumped,” said Tiernan Lathrop. “I’m friends with some of those guys and they were trash talking us. There was a lot of pressure especially after our game at Falmouth didn’t show our full ability. I was nervous all day before this game.”

“I’d say first half, there was a lot of individual defense,” Patterson said. “Not a lot of us were on the same page. We didn’t know where everyone was at all times. Second half, we started knowing where people were and started talking more. When we have a 50-50 ball, we do a very good of pouncing on it quick and if we don’t, we immediately have a guy on them ready to take it away. I think when our offense is playing well, we can feed off their energy and come up with big plays. We make big plays and the sideline gets us pumped up. We take pride in the little things. It’s great we can beat Scarborough, one of our top contenders.”

“The game was closer than the final score and that’s great for our kids,” Raymond added. “Scarborough’s really athletic. Their defense is very good. They made us work hard. That’s going to be helpful for our guys to know we can score against a defense that pressed us and we still managed to identify where the weaknesses were and get good shots.

“I think defensively, we did a better job in the second half. We were a little too wound up in the first half and tried to take the ball away a little more than we needed to and got ourselves in some bad positions and we weren’t communicating great. Second half, we moved our feet a lot better and we were less dependent on trying to take the ball away and more dependent on staying in front of them and making them make passes. In high school lacrosse, if you force a team to make a lot of passes, eventually the ball will go out of bounds.”

Tiernan Lathrop led the way with six goals.

“In the Falmouth game, I went zero percent in shooting and I’ve been reminded of that every day in practice,” said Tiernan Lathrop. “It sat in my head all day and I knew it couldn’t happen again.”

Boudreau added three goals, while Keegan Lathrop and Lee both scored twice and Campbell finished once.

Keegan Lathrop also had four assists, while Lee added three and Campbell two.

Shur made four saves.

Junior Sebastian Moon helped the Capers win 13 of 25 faceoffs.

“I think we won the majority of faceoffs in the second half and that was a big help,” Raymond said. “We had good, long possessions and that was helpful.”

Patterson collected six ground balls, while Moon had five as Cape Elizabeth held a 32-27 advantage in that all-important category. The Capers out-shot the Red Storm, 45-23 (30-12 on cage), and only turned the ball over 12 times.

Scarborough was led by Finn Pedersen’s four goals. Olin Pedersen added two and Flaker and Fogarty each had one.

Carlista had a pair of assists.

Senior Sam Rumelhart had a game-high nine ground balls.

Kerbel was impressive with 16 saves and proclaimed during one timeout that it was the most fun he’d had all year.

“Ben played out of his mind in the first half,” said Scarborough coach Zach Barrett. “He made some huge, point-blank saves he had no business making. Second half, he was put in some really tough spots but still made awesome saves. He’s an awesome goalie. The greatest thing about him is he’s always smiling, always saying, ‘I’ve got this, Coach.’ He’s the most confident kid I’ve ever coached.”

The Red Storm turned the ball over 22 times.

“Them having possession wore our D guys down,” Barrett lamented. “I thought our defense played great. For the caliber of players they have, we made them hold the ball and they couldn’t get a good look, but we couldn’t do it forever. We made some mistakes in the midfield. We missed some ground balls and had turnovers and they pounded away at us. We couldn’t keep up and that’s something we’ll have to address going forward. I think offensively, I don’t know if guys were amped up too much to put good shots on nets, but we had opportunities and we just missed.

“Cape’s a tough opponent. We have to play a near perfect game to beat them. They definitely have more firepower. There’s no delusion here, but we do have some very good lacrosse players and competitors on this team. Heck yeah, we want another shot at them. That would great for us to play them again.”

Second half

Each team kicks off the second half of its regular season schedule later this week.

Scarborough looks to get back on track when it visits Gorham Wednesday. The Red Storm then welcome Brunswick Friday.

“I told the boys before the game that this was an important game, but not the most important game,” Barrett said. “We have to come back and get some confidence back this week. There’s still a long way to go.”

Cape Elizabeth hosts Yarmouth Wednesday, then goes to Lewiston Friday. The Capers also have tests remaining against York, Thornton Academy and South Portland.

“I’m super-excited for those games,” Patterson said. “Any given game, anything can happen, so we look at every team as our biggest game of the season and go our hardest.”

“All six guys can go to the net, but we have to work more as a unit,” Tiernan Lathrop said. “We’ve started moving the ball more. We have talent all around. We just need to hit our shots. We can definitely bury shots even more.”

“We have some great games left,” Raymond added. “We want the regular season to prepare us for the postseason. That causes us to work on things.”