Cape Elizabeth’s girls’ lacrosse team traveled to powerhouse defending state champion Waynflete for its first regional final of the MPA-sanctioned era Wednesday afternoon. While the Capers fought the Flyers tooth and nail, they didn’t quite have enough in going down to a 9-5 defeat.

The Capers went 7-5 in the regular season and earned the No. 3 seed in Western B. Cape Elizabeth traveled to No. 2 Wells Saturday and came away with a 14-8 semifinal round victory as senior Nora Daly went off for six goals. Senior Maggie Darling, sophomore Anna Darling, sophomore Karyn Barrett and junior Katie Lavallee each had two goals. Senior goalie Katie Mowles stopped six shots.

A bitter pill

Scarborough’s title quest ended differently. The Red Storm were 9-3 this year, but were relegated to the No. 5 seed and had to play at No. 4 Kennebunk in the quarterfinals (a meeting most felt should have waited until the regional final,but didn’t because of the vagaries of the Heal Points system).

Last spring, Kennebunk rallied past host Scarborough for an overtime victory in the regional final before losing to Brunswick in the state game. This year, the Rams and Red Storm were clearly the best teams in the region. On May 29, Scarborough rolled past visiting Kennebunk 13-9.

Kennebunk fell behind 5-0 in the regular season meeting, but got the jump in the playoff game as senior standout Jamie Spang scored two unassisted goals in the first five minutes.

Then, the Red Storm threatened to run away and hide.

The visitors got on the board with 19:15 left in the first when junior standout Lindsay Hagerman scored on a free position. Not quite two minutes later, junior star Ellie Morin (who again sparkled all over the field) scored an unassisted goal to tie the game.

With 17:01 to go in the half, Hagerman set up sophomore Meghan Quirk, whose shot eluded Rams senior goalie Taylor Vaughan, and Scarborough was up 3-2. Quirk scored again (from freshman Laura Przybylowicz) at the 15:29 mark. Morin then added a free position goal and with 10:32 left before halftime, senior Lauren Blaisdell (assisted by Przybylowicz) scored for a 6-2 lead.

The hosts would regroup and tied the game at 6-6 at the break.

Scarborough had a 15-9 edge in shots, a 7-6 advantage in draws and a commanding 28-13 bulge in ground balls, but found itself even.

Scarborough took its final lead, 2 minutes, 30 seconds into the second half when Morin set up senior Megan Cowie for a goal.

The hosts then got three in a row to make it 9-7.

Undaunted, the Red Storm rallied, tying the game on a pair of free positions from Hagerman, the last with 13:29 to play, but Scarborough wouldn’t score again.

The hosts took the lead for good on an unassisted goal with 10:49 to play. After that goal, Scarborough coach Marcia Wood replaced Sterrer with freshman Kesley Howard.

Howard stopped the first shot she faced, but Maggie Lavoie grabbed the rebound and fired it home for an 11-9 lead with 10:11 to play. With 8:23 left, Lavoie scored on a free position to give Kennebunk its biggest lead, 12-9. The Rams then put it away with 4:17 to go when sophomore Emily Kessel scored an unassisted goal on a rebound.

Kennebunk was able to run out most of the rest of the clock and celebrated its 13-9 triumph.

The Rams won eight of the 11 second half draws and had a 14-10 edge overall. Kennebunk grabbed 21 second half ground balls (to 20 for the Red Storm) in the second half and outshot the visitors 17-9 in the final 25 minutes (and had a 26-24 edge for the game). The Rams turned the ball over 22 times and forced 19.

Spang led all scorers with five goals.

For Scarborough, Hagerman finished with three goals and an assist. Morin (one assist) and Quirk both had two tallies. Blaisdell and Cowie both scored once in their swan songs. Przybylowicz had a pair of assists. Morin led everyone with 11 ground balls.

“Last time we played them we got the draws, this time they did,” Wood said. “Last time, we got the ground balls, this time, they did.”

Scarborough finished 9-4, but certainly made its mark this spring.

“We didn’t want it to end like this,” Wood said. “We beat (Kennebunk) in the regular season, that was a high point. We had a great game against Cape, that was a high point. It was a tough schedule. I’m proud of how my girls handled the scheduling. We had three-point games with Yarmouth and NYA.”

The Red Storm lose six seniors to graduation, but return Hagerman and both Morins, among many others, and will be right back in the mix.

“With the majority of my starting lineup returning, I hope they remember the past three years and that will fuel them enough to make it to that last game,” Wood said.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net