Cape boys fight off Falmouth in state game rematch

CAPE ELIZABETH—In the first two weeks of the season, Cape Elizabeth’s two-time reigning Class A champion boys’ lacrosse team has had to face four of the best teams in the state.

And the Capers have passed every test to date.

Box score

Cape Elizabeth 9 Falmouth 7

F- 1 1 2 3- 7
CE- 2 1 4 2- 9

First quarter
11:17 F Boothby (unassisted)
9:34 CE Goss (unassisted)
9:24 CE Lathrop (Trachimowicz)

Second quarter
6:58 CE Hennessey (Lathrop) (MAN-UP)
1:12 F G. Guerrette (J. Guerrette) (MAN-UP)

Third quarter
10:49 F J. Guerrette (unassisted)
10:05 CE Laughlin (van Huystee)
8:45 CE van Huystee (unassisted)
6:37 F Boothby (unassisted)
2:56 CE van Huystee (unassisted) (MAN-UP)
44.5 CE Offit (Goss)

Fourth quarter
9:11 F G. Guerrette (J. Guerrette) (MAN-UP)
6:20 CE Offit (Cochran)
5:36 CE Cochran (unassisted)
3:21 F G. Guerrette (J. Guerrette) (MAN-UP)
44.7 F Barnard (G. Guerrette)

Goals:
F- G. Guerrette 3, Boothby 2, Barnard, J. Guerrette
CE- Offit, van Huystee 2, Cochran, Goss, Hennessey, Lathrop, Laughlin

Assists:
F- J. Guerrette 3, G. Guerrette
CE- Cochran, Goss, Laughlin, von Huystee

Faceoffs (Cape Elizabeth, 14-5)
F- Kearns 5 of 18, Backman 0 of 1
CE- Moon 13 of 18, Picarillo 1 of 1

Ground balls:
F- 18
CE- 29

Turnovers:
F- 14
CE- 11

Shots:
F- 23
CE- 39

Shots on cage:
F- 15
CE- 20

Saves:
F (Noyes) 11 (Gagne) 0
CE (Foley) 8

Saturday afternoon at Hannaford Field, Cape Elizabeth and visiting Falmouth renewed acquaintances in a rematch of last year’s state final and while the Navigators made things much tougher than they did last June, the Capers once again had the answers to remained unbeaten.

Thanks to a strong defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack.

Senior Cyrus Boothby gave Falmouth a quick lead, but Cape Elizabeth countered, as juniors Connor Goss and Keegan Lathrop scored in a 10-second span for a 2-1 advantage after one period.

Offense was at a premium in the second quarter, as junior Tom Hennessey scored for the Capers, but sophomore Gio Guerrette answered for the Navigators to make it 3-2 at halftime.

When sophomore Joey Guerrette scored early in the second half, Falmouth drew even, but Cape Elizabeth’s offense came to life and after senior Nick Laughlin put the Capers ahead to stay, junior Alex van Huystee struck twice and classmate Bobby Offit added another goal for a 7-4 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

There, Gio Guerrette scored to make things interesting, but Offit and junior Sam Cochran answered and while the Navigators scored twice late, Cape Elizabeth was able to hold on and prevail, 9-7.

Seven different players scored as the Capers improved to 5-0 on the season and in the process, handed Falmouth its first loss in four outings.

“It’s good to have competitive games,” said longtime Cape Elizabeth coach Ben Raymond, after his 317th victory with the program. “It forces our guys to be in pressure situations. We did a pretty good job.”

Still the one

Last June 18, for the second year in a row, Cape Elizabeth rolled past Falmouth in the Class A state final, 18-7.

The Capers and Navigators could be on a postseason collision course again this season.

Cape Elizabeth opened with a 10-6 home win over South Portland before downing host Gorham, 13-2, beating visiting Yarmouth, last year’s Class B state runner-up, (11-6), then Wednesday holding on for a 7-4 victory at Thornton Academy.

Falmouth has impressed in the early going as well, first beating visiting Messalonskee, 15-4, then rallying for a 12-8 victory at Thornton Academy before handling visiting Gorham, 18-5.

Entering play Saturday, the Capers had won 29 of 39 all-time meetings against Falmouth (see sidebar, below), including each of the past five.

Cape Elizabeth then went out and did it again, although the Navigators showed signs that they’re closing the gap.

Cape Elizabeth senior Nate Patterson defends Falmouth sophomore Gio Guerrette during the Capers’ 9-7 win Saturday. Lisa Mims photos.

After freshman Peter Kearns won the opening faceoff, Falmouth struck first, just 43 seconds in, as Boothby scored unassisted, beating Capers junior goalie Michael Foley.

Cape Elizabeth quickly responded, as after Lathrop bounced a shot just high, Goss fought his way through the defense and scored unassisted with 9:34 to go in the opening stanza.

A mere 10 seconds later, after a faceoff win from senior Sebastian Moon, senior Andrew Trachimowicz got the ball to Lathrop, who fired a shot past Navigators senior goalie Drew Noyes for a 2-1 lead.

Late in the first quarter, Foley denied senior Cooper Tinto, then stopped a shot from Joey Guerrette to keep the Capers on top.

Neither squad was able to generate much of anything in the second period.

Early on, Goss hit the crossbar and Noyes denied a shot from van Huystee.

After going man-up, Cape Elizabeth snapped a 14 minute, 26 second scoring drought when Lathrop delivered a pretty no-look pass to Hennessey, who finished with 6:58 on the first half clock for a 3-1 advantage.

Noyes kept the game within reach by twice denying Lathrop.

Then, with 1:20 left, Foley was sent off for a cross-check penalty and not only did Falmouth go man-up, but it did so against backup goalie, sophomore Luke Gagne.

It took the Navigators just eight seconds to strike, as Joey Guerrette set up Gio Guerrette for a shot that found the net, ending a 22 minute, 5 second scoring drought and cutting the deficit back to one, 3-2, at the half.

Cape Elizabeth senior Andrew Trachimowicz smothers Falmouth senior Luke Crowder.

Falmouth drew even quickly in the third period, as after Gio Guerrette had a shot saved by Foley, Joey Guerrette let it rip from long distance and found the net to make it 3-3 with 10:49 to go in the frame.

But the Capers needed only 44 seconds to go back on top, as after Moon won the faceoff, van Huystee got the ball to Laughlin and Laughlin bounced a shot past Noyes and in to put Cape Elizabeth ahead for good.

With 8:45 left, van Huystee got in on the scoring fun, finishing unassisted.

“I think we have a bunch of boys who can score the ball,” said van Huystee. “Everyone thinks we rely on Keegan all the time, but all of us can finish. We’re all here and we can all score.”

The Navigators drew within one with 6:37 on the clock, as Boothby scored unassisted, but after Noyes robbed Lathrop, van Huystee scored man-up with 2:56 to go and with 44.5 seconds showing, Goss rolled a pass to Offit, who scooped up the ball and shot and scored to make it 7-4 heading for the fourth period.

There, Cochran and Gio Guerrette took turns hitting the post before Falmouth drew within two on a man-up goal from Gio Guerrette (set up by Joey Guerrette) with 9:11 to play.

The Navigators had a look to get even closer, but Boothby was denied by Foley with 7:11 left.

The Capers then got some breathing room, as after a turnover, Cochran set up Offit with 6:20 remaining.

It took just 44 seconds for Cape Elizabeth to open it up even more, as Cochran scored unassisted for a 9-5 advantage.

Falmouth refused to fold and got a man-up goal from Gio Guerrette (again with Joey Guerrette getting the assist) with 3:21 on the clock and another goal from junior Caden Barnard (set up by Gio Guerrette) with 44.7 seconds to go, but it was too little, too late and after Moon won one final faceoff, the Capers ran out the clock and celebrated their 9-7 victory.

Cape Elizabeth congratulates goalie Michael Foley after the final horn.

Cape Elizabeth had seven different players score, as Offit and van Huystee scored two goals apiece and Cochran, Goss, Hennessey, Lathrop and Laughlin all added one.

“We get production from a lot of different people,” Raymond said. “We’re still figuring out what we do really well on offense. We’ll work on putting those guys in the best situations to be successful.

“I think our balance had to do with how they defended us. They did a good job making things really hard for Keegan. Their goalie made some good saves, but we found the matchup we were looking for a few times. Alex did a great job. Sam got in there toward the end. Bobby’s doing a great job moving off the ball. Connor does well. Nick is hard to handle in transition.”

Cochran, Goss, Laughlin and van Huystee each had one assist.

Foley made eight saves and got a lot of help from his defense.

“We’re really lucky to have Mike back there,” said junior defenseman Colin Blackburn. “He’s a really good goalie. We really focused in practice on sliding early and being in the right zone and recovering fast. They can move the ball fast and they have good dodgers, but we just clamped down today. This year, our defense has been better than past years.”

“Our defense did really well,” said Raymond. “Penalties weren’t great for us today. They scored the majority of their goals man-up. We gave them too many man-up opportunities. That’s more the issue. We’re getting better and better on our settled defense. Our clear continues to improve and the ride was really good. We picked up almost every loose ball in the third quarter and that’s the difference in these tight games. We’re doing a good job.”

Moon helped the Capers win 14 of 19 faceoffs and also collected five ground balls.

“Seb did a great job on faceoffs, especially at the end when we really needed those,” said Raymond.

Cape Elizabeth finished with a 29-18 advantage on ground balls (senior Nate Patterson led the way with seven), out-shot Falmouth, 39-23 (20-15 on cage) and only turned the ball over 11 times.

The Navigators got three goals, an assist and a team-high seven ground balls from Gio Guerrette, two goals from Boothby and one apiece from Barnard and Joey Guerrette, who also had three assists.

Noyes saved 11 shots.

Falmouth committed 14 turnovers.

“I don’t think we played our best ball today,” Navigators coach Dave Barton lamented. “A lot of that is credit to (Cape). They forced a lot of errors, but we’ll see them again. We took too many penalties. It’s frustrating. We didn’t play a full 48 minutes.

“I think they’re a lot more methodical offensively this year. When you’re in that kind of game, possessions shrink and you have to be smart offensively. We didn’t have a whole lot of possession. They’re comfortable with their offense and at times, take the air out of it a little bit. We played more defense than we’re used to today.”

More to come

The teams battle again May 20 in Falmouth, but both squads have plenty of work to do first.

The Navigators remain on the road and go to Windham Wednesday of next week, before traveling to reigning Class B champion Brunswick Monday, May 8.

“We’re right there,” Barton said. “All of our goals are right there. This is such a mentally tough group. We’ll be fine. We’re going to get every team’s best shot. Everyone is buying in. We’ll see how much better we can get in six weeks. We haven’t even scratched the surface with this group. We’ll get back to work Monday.”

Cape Elizabeth looks to stretch its win streak to 12 Thursday when Messalonskee pays a visit. The Capers then go to Scarborough next Saturday.

They know they have a long way to go to return to the pinnacle.

“We have a chip on our shoulder, but it’s anyone’s game,” said Blackburn. “We’ll stay hungry and know we’re not invincible.”

“I think we’re doing good, but we have to stay hungry and dialed in in practice every day,” van Huystee said. “We can’t let off the brakes until states.”

“(All the top) teams are pretty even,” Raymond added. “All the teams have some strengths. I think Falmouth’s probably the most complete of the teams we’ve played. On any given day, it depends who makes mistakes, who picks up ground balls.”