(Ed. Note: For the complete Yarmouth-Waynflete boys’ soccer, Greely-Cape Elizabeth girls’ soccer, Falmouth-NYA and Yarmouth-Waynflete field hockey and Greely-Scarborough and Yarmouth-Gorham volleyball game stories, with photos, see theforecaster.net)

The entertaining fall sports season has hit the midway pole and there are still a ton of questions to be answered.

While football turned its share of heads last week (see story), soccer, field hockey, golf, cross country and volleyball produced drama as well.

Here’s a look at what just happened, what’s to come and where local teams stand in the big scheme of things:

Boys’ soccer

Don’t look now, but Falmouth’s boys’ soccer team has returned to prominence. The Yachtsmen blanked visiting York (3-0) and host Poland (7-0) last week, then handed defending Class B champion Greely its first loss Monday night, 1-0, in Cumberland. Against the Wildcats, Jake Grade, Gabe Mahoney and Matt Polewaczyk scored. In the win over the Knights, Luke Velas had three goals, while Mahoney, Greyson Cohen, Jonah Spiegel and Ben Wuesthoff also scored. Spiegel had the goal in the win at Greely. Falmouth (6-0-2 and third behind Gorham and Deering in the Western Class A Heal Points standings) has a showdown at ancient rival Yarmouth Saturday night (see theforecaster.net for game story) and hosts Cape Elizabeth Tuesday.

In Western B, Greely beat visiting Cape Elizabeth and host Freeport by 2-1 scores last week before losing at home to Falmouth Monday, 1-0. The Rangers got goals from Hunter Graham and Dylan Fried in the win over the Capers. Against the Falcons, Fried and Harry Shain scored. Greely (6-1-1 and first in the Heals) goes to York Thursday and hosts Kennebunk Tuesday.

Yarmouth dominated host Kennebunk last Tuesday, 7-0. Adam LaBrie had three goals (all in the first half), Henry Coolidge also had a hat trick and Connor Lainey had the other goal. The Clippers then settled for a 2-2 home draw against Waynflete Saturday, on Ovarian Cancer Awareness Night. Coolidge and LaBrie scored early goals, but Yarmouth couldn’t add to the lead and wound up splitting Heal Points with the Flyers.

“I think we let one slip away,” said Yarmouth coach Mike Hagerty. “Good result for them, not so good result for us. This might be a game we’ll regret down the road.”

The Clippers (5-1-1 and second in Western B) were at Cape Elizabeth Tuesday (see theforecaster.net for game story), host Falmouth Saturday on Breast Cancer Awareness Night and go to York Tuesday of next week.

Freeport fell to 0-6-1 after home losses last week to Fryeburg Academy (1-0) and Greely (2-1). Jack Davenport had the goal versus the Rangers. The Falcons (11th in Western B, where just 10 teams make the playoffs) were home against Lake Region Tuesday, welcome NYA Friday and visit Poland Wednesday of next week.

In Western C, NYA suffered a 5-0 loss at rival Waynflete last Tuesday, then improved to 4-2-1 with a 7-0 home victory over Wells Saturday. D.J. Nicholas had three goals, Bobby Murray two and Xander Bartone and Jeremy Thelven one apiece in the victory. The Panthers (eighth in the Heals) hosted Sacopee Valley Tuesday and go to Freeport Friday.

Girls’ soccer

On the girls’ side, Greely took a perfect record into Tuesday’s showdown at Falmouth. Last week, the Rangers made a powerful statement with a 3-0 win at Cape Elizabeth in a rematch of last year’s Western B Final. Ellie Schad had two goals and Kristina Volta scored twice.

“Going into the season, we were looked at as an underdog team in a building year, but we’ve proved ourselves and we’ve worked hard to get here,” Volta said. “Cape has always been a big rival. We came out and wanted to play our best against them.”

“We knew it was really important to keep our energy up,” Schad said. “If we let down, Cape would run all over us and we wouldn’t be able to come back from that.”

“Tonight, we stepped it up, especially on defense,” added Greely coach Josh Muscadin.

Saturday, the Rangers improved to 7-0 (first in Western B) with a 3-0 home win over Freeport (Allison Coon, Izzy Hutnak and Jocelyn Mitiguy had the goals). Greely visits York Thursday and hosts Kennebunk Tuesday of next week.

Yarmouth fell to 3-2-1 after a 1-0 loss at Kennebunk last Tuesday. The Clippers (sixth in Western B) hoped to return to the win column Tuesday at Cape Elizabeth (see theforecaster.net for game story). Yarmouth plays at Falmouth Thursday, visits Wells Saturday and goes to York Wednesday of next week.

Freeport fell to 1-6 and 14th after losses last week at Fryeburg Academy (1-0) and Greely (3-0). The Falcons hosted Lake Region Tuesday, visit NYA Thursday and host Wells Tuesday of next week.

In Western A, Falmouth improved to 4-2-1 with wins last week at York (3-1) and at home over Poland (5-0). Georgia Babikian, Marcy Kittredge and Emma Van Wickler had the goals versus the Wildcats. Tyler Spence had three goals against the Knights, while Kittredge and Emma England also scored. The Yachtsmen (fifth in the Heals) were home against Greely Tuesday, host Yarmouth Thursday and go to Cape Elizabeth Tuesday of next week.

In Western C, NYA lost at home to Waynflete last Tuesday, 3-0, then got in the win column Friday with a 7-0 home triumph over Pine Tree Academy. The Panthers (1-6-1 and 15th in the Heals) went to Sacopee Valley Tuesday and host Freeport Thursday.

Field hockey

Yarmouth’s field hockey team continues to lead the way with an undefeated record, although the road to perfection is getting tougher for the Clippers. Last week, Yarmouth held off visiting Cape Elizabeth in a 2-0 thriller, as goalie Tori Messina saved two penalty strokes and Kallie Hutchinson scored twice. Monday, the Clippers got a goal from Molly Wilson as time expired in the first half, then held on to win at Waynflete, 1-0, to improve to 9-0.

“It was really tough today,” Wilson said. “They fought a good battle.”

“(Being undefeated) a blessing and a curse,” said Messina. “We have pressure to keep winning. What I love about my team is that we don’t come out to win. We come out to play field hockey. That helps us.”

The Clippers (third behind Oak Hill and Lisbon in the Western C Heals) hosted Sacopee Valley Wednesday (see theforecaster.net for game story), have a showdown at NYA Friday and welcome Wells in the home finale Tuesday.

“We have to remember that we can’t get comfortable,” said Yarmouth coach Mandy Lewis. “We have to keep improving. We have a target, but I think we’re ready.”

NYA, undermanned as it is, continues to impress. Last week, the Panthers welcomed Western A contender Falmouth and despite being down a player for 60 minutes (and down two for a few minutes in the second half), hung tough and dropped a 1-0 decision.

“We don’t use numbers as an excuse,” said NYA senior Alex Barnes. “We know we have the skill and the will to win. It’s fun to go out and show teams that no matter how many we have, we can come out as strong as any other team. We’re proud of how we’re playing and I think we can keep that going.”

“My expectations are the same (this year), to be honest,” said Panthers coach Tracy Quimby. “The way we look at it, when (we coaches) were in high school, we wanted to be on the field 100 percent of the time. We didn’t want to be hauled off for a sub, so they shouldn’t want that either. If you’re playing your hardest, who wants to come off anyway?”

NYA improved to 7-2 (fourth in Western C) Saturday with a 3-0 home win over Wells, as Kiersten Marr, Marina Poole and Mackenzie Sangster scored. The Panthers were at Old Orchard Beach Wednesday, host Yarmouth in a pivotal showdown Friday and visit Waynflete Tuesday.

In Western B, Freeport stayed hot last week, winning at Lake Region, 3-1, and Poland, 2-1. Against the Lakers, Hannah Williams scored twice, while Bailey Coffin added a goal. Morgan Karnes stopped 11 shots. In the win over the Knights, Williams and Coffin scored to erase a 1-0 deficit.

“We knew it was going to be a close game,” Falcons coach Marcia Wood said. “They outhustled us for most of the game, but I just said, ‘Dig it in at the end, and good things will happen.'”

Monday, Freeport improved to 7-3 (second to York in the Heals) with a 1-0 home win over Gray-New Gloucester, as Coffin had the lone goal. The Falcons were at Kennebunk Wednesday and host Fryeburg Academy Tuesday.

Greely won, 3-1, at Waynflete, behind two goals from Sophie McMonagle and one from Gina Richard, then lost, 4-1, at York, to fall to 3-6 (10th in Western B, where only nine teams qualify). The Rangers were home with York Wednesday and host Cape Elizabeth Tuesday.

In Western A, Falmouth edged host NYA, 1-0, last week, then rallied for a 3-2 overtime win over visiting Fryeburg Academy Monday to improve to 7-3 (second to Scarborough in the standings). Against the Panthers, Kate Kelley had the goal.

“I think overall we played really well,” Kelley said. “We moved the ball well and passed well. We held our own and hung tough.”

“We thought we could overpower them, but that wasn’t the case today,” Yachtsmen coach Robin Haley said. “I guess we need to work some more on our scoring and execution. We didn’t capitalize well enough.”

Against the Raiders, Elle Fitzgerald scored the tying and winning goals, while Morgan Allen also rattled the cage. Falmouth played at Cape Elizabeth Wednesday (see theforecaster.net for game story).

Volleyball

Greely’s volleyball team continues to pass every test and at press time, led the Class A Heal Points standings with an 8-0 mark. Last week, the Rangers blanked visiting Falmouth (25-21, 29-27, 25-23) and host Thornton Academy (25-23, 25-19, 25-11). Monday, Greely eked out a 3-2 decision at Scarborough. After dropping the first set, 12-25, the Rangers bounced right back to take the second, 25-19, thanks to the superb serving of sophomore standout Kayley Cimino. When Greely broke a 16-16 tie and won the third game, 25-17, it appeared to be lights out for the host team, but Scarborough rallied from a 16-10 deficit in the fourth set to prevail, 25-19, and set up a winner-take-all fifth game. There, the Red Storm took the first two points, but the Rangers wouldn’t be denied, getting four kills from unheralded senior Emily Buchanan and pulling away to win, 15-8, and take the match, 3-2, somewhat avenging last year’s playoff loss in the process.

The fifth set is all mental,” Cimino said. “We just needed to keep our momentum going.”

“We wanted to win it for last year’s seniors,” Buchanan said. “It was completely a team effort. Whenever someone was down, we pulled each other up. I’m proud of how we kept our heads when we needed to.”

“We sure found a way tonight,” added Greely coach Kelvin Hasch. “I’m excited that we were able to pull it out.”

The Rangers hosted Cony Wednesday and go to Cheverus Friday. After welcoming Kennebunk in the home finale Tuesday, Greely closes with matches at Falmouth, South Portland and Cape Elizabeth.

Falmouth was 6-2 and sixth at press time after following up the loss to Greely with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-17) win over visiting Cape Elizabeth and a 3-0 home victory over Ellsworth. The Yachtsmen were at Biddeford Wednesday, host Windham Friday and go to Thornton Academy Tuesday.

In Class B, Yarmouth is coming off its best regular season week in a long time, if not ever. Last Tuesday, the Clippers earned some huge Heal Points by rallying to win, 3-1 (14-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-12), at Biddeford. Andrea St. Pierre turned the tide with some clutch serves in the second game. Heather Clark had nine kills and eight blocks, while Kenzie Sheehan had 10 aces. Yarmouth then went to Gorham and beat another Class A contender in four games (25-18, 19-25, 25-15, 25-20). Sheehan finished with 17 service points, 11 aces and eight kills. Clark finished with 13 kills and nine blocks.

“This says we can beat Class A teams,” Clark said. “We’re not just a little Class B team that everyone thinks they can beat. I really love the energy we have. Sometimes we get down, but we keep our energy up because that’s what wins games.”

“We were so hyped to beat Biddeford and it just carried on to this one,” Sheehan said. “Beating Biddeford was a big eye-opener for everybody. I really like playing Class A teams more because we get so hyped up.”

“We feel good about the win,” Yarmouth coach Jim Senecal added. “We feel good about the week. This is huge for us. We like to think of ourselves of the little Class B team, but we won’t be able to do that anymore.”

Saturday, the Clippers hosted Bucksport and Sumner and won both matches in three sets. Yarmouth downed the Golden Bucks by 25-10, 25-10, 25-10 margins, as Liz Clark had 20 assists and Morgan Hamre had 12 aces. The Clippers handled Sumner by 25-7, 25-10, 25-12 scores. Cat Thompson had a career-high five kills and Rachel Chillé continued her strong rookie campaign with nine aces. Yarmouth (6-1 and first in Class B) hosted Kennebunk Wednesday, then has a pivotal trip Down East Saturday, playing at Washington Academy in a state game rematch and at Machias. Wednesday of next week, the Clippers visit Cony.

“Those will be huge matches,” Senecal said. “It will be a great atmosphere for the kids.”

NYA fell in three games to Thornton Academy last Tuesday (13-25, 10-25, 15-25), then split matches against visiting Down East foes Sumner and Bucksport Saturday. The Panthers beat Sumner in three games (25-23, 27-25, 25-12), as Anya Siviski had 10 assists and nine aces, Suzanna Butterfield added eight kills, Diana McLeod had seven kills and Nina Babbitt finished with six aces. NYA lost to Bucksport in five games (25-16, 22-25, 22-25, 25-20, 12-15), despite 13 aces and five kills from McLeod, 11 kills from Hannah Carr, 18 assists from Siviski, 17 digs from Marina Stam and 11 digs from Anya Stam. The Panthers improved to 2-6 with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-10, 25-10) home win over Lake Region Monday. Siviski had five aces, two kills and six assists. McLeod finished with five kills and three aces and Jordan Ackerman added five aces. NYA (eighth in Class B, where just seven teams make the playoffs) visits Jonesport-Beals Friday, plays at Washington Academy and Machias Saturday, then returns home to face Cape Elizabeth Tuesday.

Cross country

Greely’s girls’ cross country teams stole headlines Saturday when the Rangers won the small school division at the Manchester Invitational in New Hampshire. Katherine Leggat-Barr was second individually in 19 minutes, 11.5 seconds. Izzy Evans also placed in the top 10 (seventh for scoring purposes in 19:53.90). Freeport came in 11th (Lily Johnston was the top individual, 36th, 21:44.30) and NYA finished 21st and was led by Hannah Austin (17th, 20:12.90).

On the boys’ side, Greely came fourth, Freeport placed 11th and NYA finished 26th. Individually, the Falcons produced the sixth-place finisher in Chandler Vincent (16:58.29). Matt Malcom led the Panthers with a 20th-place showing (17:44.14). The Rangers’ top finisher was Ryan Morrison (28th, 17:57.65).

Falmouth and Yarmouth stayed home and joined Traip and Wells at Poland. The Yachtsmen won the boys’ race with the Clippers second. Individually, Falmouth’s Bryce Murdick was first in 17:14.01. Yarmouth’s freshman sensation, Luke Laverdiere, came in second (17:20.38). On the girls’ side, Yarmouth placed first with Falmouth coming second. The Yachtsmen did have the top individual in Mira Wyman (20:47.66), who just held off Yarmouth’s Grace Cowles (20:47.78).

Merriconeag took part in a five-team meet at Gray-New Gloucester. The boys were first as Tucker Pierce was the fastest individual in 18:09. The girls (led by winner Olivia Skillings, 21:22) also came in first.

This weekend, local teams will take part in the Festival of Champions, Saturday, in Belfast.

Golf

On the links, defending Class A champion Falmouth made it four wins in a row and improved to 7-1 after home victories over Cheverus (10.5-2.5) and Portland (11.5-1.5). The Yachtsmen were at South Portland Tuesday and close the regular season at Scarborough Thursday. The Red Storm are the only team to beat Falmouth this year.

Greely beat Westbrook, 12.5-0.5 last week, then suffered its first loss, 9-4, at Thornton Academy. Monday, the Rangers improved to 7-1 with an 8-5 win over Windham. After going to Gorham Tuesday, Greely closed the regular season at home versus Bonny Eagle Thursday.

Yarmouth takes a 3-5 record into Thursday’s finale at Gray-New Gloucester. Last week, the Clippers lost to Cape Elizabeth (7-0) and Lake Region (5-2) before winning at Freeport (5.5-1.5).

Freeport fell to 1-6 after 5.5-1.5 losses to York and Yarmouth. The Falcons were at NYA Tuesday and visited York Wednesday.

NYA was 5-3 entering Tuesday’s home match versus Freeport. The Panthers beat Wells (6-1) and Waynflete (6.5-0.5) last week. NYA closed at home versus Waynflete Wednesday.

The Southwestern Maine Activities Association and Western Maine Conference are holding their state qualifiers Monday of next week. The team state match is just over a week away, Saturday, Oct. 10, at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. The individual championships are Saturday, Oct. 17, also at Natanis.

Sun Journal sports editor Justin Pelletier contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

Sidebar Elements

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Yarmouth senior Adam LaBrie soars for a header during the Clippers’ 2-2 home tie versus Waynflete Saturday night.

North Yarmouth Academy’s Owen McCarthy putts during last week’s win over Waynflete.

Yarmouth’s Emilie Martin fires a shot during the Clippers’ 1-0 win at Waynflete Monday. The Clippers stayed perfect on the season.

Greely’s Hannah Butland (left) and Hannah Weickert rise up to block a shot during the Rangers’ 3-2 win at Scarborough Monday night.