The next week-and-a-half figures to be very interesting for local girls’ lacrosse teams.

There’s a very good chance that we could be in for a rematch of the most exciting game of the regular season in the Eastern Class B Final.

History certainly suggests that’s the case. Each of the past five seasons, North Yarmouth Academy or Yarmouth has come out of the east and on each occasion, the home team emerged victorious.

This time around, the Clippers will be the No. 1 seed and will have the all-important homefield advantage. Yarmouth lost 8-6 at home to Waynflete in its regular season finale, but still wound up 10-2 to hold off the Panthers for the top spot.

“(The Waynflete game) was a good way for us to go into the playoffs,” said Clippers coach Dorothy Holt. “We’re young, but we’re tough. Homefield is huge for us.”

As a result, the Clippers will host either No. 4 Freeport (6-6) or No. 5 Mountain Valley (5-7) in Saturday’s semifinal round.

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The Falcons from Freeport host the Falcons from Rumford in a quarterfinal round game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The teams did not meet in the regular season. The only previous playoff meeting saw Freeport win 15-3 in the 2001 first round.

Yarmouth didn’t face either team this year. The Clippers ousted Freeport from the playoffs in 2001, 2003 and 2007. They have not met Mountain Valley since a 20-3 quarterfinal round romp in 2004.

NYA (10-2), meanwhile, is the No. 2 seed and will welcome No. 3 Morse (6-6) Saturday for the semifinals. The Panthers and Shipbuilders don’t play in the regular season, but did square off in the same round two years ago (a 17-3 triumph for NYA). The Panthers also eliminated Morse in the 2001 quarterfinals and the 2006 semifinals.

If all goes as expected, Yarmouth will host NYA in the regional final next Wednesday in a rematch of May 27th’s epic 12-11 Clippers’ win in sudden-victory overtime.

“We have some positive things going on,” said NYA coach Julia Littlefield. “We’re excited to play Yarmouth again. It’s good competition. We don’t mind playing at Yarmouth. We had a ball playing them (the first time). We’ll see what happens.”

No strangers here either

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In Western B, for the third straight season, neighbors and rivals Falmouth and Greely will do battle. The teams split the past two years with the road team winning each time (Falmouth 10-7 in the 2007 quarterfinals, Greely 9-7 in last year’s semifinal round). This spring, the Yachtsmen will visit the Rangers in the quarterfinals, Thursday at 5 p.m.

Greely had to win its final three regular season games simply to qualify. The Rangers managed to do so, thanks in part to an emphatic 14-8 victory at Falmouth June 2. Both teams enter the game 4-8.

The winner faces the daunting task of meeting undefeated, top-ranked, defending state champion Waynflete (12-0) in the semifinals.

The Yachtsmen lost 16-7 at the Flyers on May 1 (although they did manage to score more goals against them than anyone else did all season). The Rangers were 14-2 losers at Waynflete May 11.

Falmouth has never faced the Flyers in the postseason. Greely, however, has done so more than it would have liked. In eight previous playoff meetings, the Rangers have only beaten Waynflete once. Last year, in the regional final, the Flyers beat Greely, 16-5.

Schedule

Looking ahead, the regional finals are Wednesday of next week on the field of the highest remaining seed. The Class B state final is Saturday, June 20 at 5:30 p.m., at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

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

NYAGLBright.JPGNYA’s Hayley Bright and Yarmouth’s Molly Curry went toe-to-toe late last month in the teams’ epic overtime battle, won by the Clippers. There’s a good chance the longtime rivals will play again June 17 with a berth in the state final on the line.


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