Falmouth Academy Finishes Perfect Season; Cape Cod Academy Laxwomen Roll over Storm

WEST YARMOUTH – Entering its first season in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), the Falmouth Academy girls’ lacrosse team set high expectations for itself, and did not know what challenges lay in its path.

Falmouth Acaemy's Addy Hayman scored seven goals Monday against St. John Paul II as the Mariners clinched a perfect regular season at 14-0. Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports

Falmouth Acaemy’s Addy Hayman, wheeling past St. John Paul II’s Lila Barker, scored seven goals Monday against St. John Paul II as the Mariners clinched a perfect regular season at 14-0.
Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports

One of those many goals included winning the Cape & Islands League, and on Monday afternoon, the Mariners wrapped up their first league championship with a 17-7 victory over St. John Paul II at the Sandy Pond Recreation Complex.

With the victory, the Mariners wrapped up a 10-0 league record but more importantly, wrapped up a perfect regular season at 14-0.

“This is our first year in the MIAA and Cape & Islands League, so our high goal was to make it to the state tournament, then league champions and division champions being the highest,” Falmouth Academy head coach Sarah Knowles said. “We set high goals for ourselves, not knowing where we would end up and we’ve had an undefeated season thus far.”

Aside from a scrimmage with Nauset that is scheduled later in the week, Falmouth Academy will now wait and see where they are seeded in the Div.2 south sectionals bracket. Lacrosse is the lone sport that is not seeded by winning percentage, but rather by power rankings put together by the coaches association.

The final score was not indicative of how the opening half of play unfolded, as the Mariners held a slim 7-4 lead at the break.

Falmouth Academy, which has won eight of their 13 games by more than 10 goals, settled down in the second half however, erupting for 10 goals over the final 25 minutes to coast to victory.

Jane Early scored twice in the opening three minutes of the second half, followed by three consecutive goals from Christine Brake to quickly open up a 12-4 lead early in the second half.

Falmouth Academy's Charlotte Van Voorhis tries to get away from St. John Paul II's Kyra McCabe in Monday's girls' lacrosse action at Sandy Pond. Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports

Falmouth Academy’s Charlotte Van Voorhis tries to get away from St. John Paul II’s Kyra McCabe in Monday’s girls’ lacrosse action at Sandy Pond.
Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports

“That’s was the closest game we’ve had this year score wise going into the half,” Knowles said. “But we recouped, we needed some fresh legs so having that halftime five minute break was what we needed.”

Leading the Mariner attack was Addy Hayman, who scored the first three goals of the game and finished the afternoon with seven tallies. Early, who eclipsed the 100-goal plateau earlier in the season, finished with four goals, while Christine Brake recorded three goals. Eliza and Charlotte Van Voorhis and Quinn Van Tol each finished the game with one.

“We like the one-on-one and have a lot of girls who have a lot of stick skills and a lot of young players with stick skills,” Knwoels explained. “So they are able to maneuver around defenders with ease and we like to see them go in.”

Casey Sullivan scored two of her three goals in the opening half for the Lady Lions, while teammate Mikenzie Carbone scored both of her goals in the second half.

Brianna Wooten and Olivia Bengston also scored first half goals for the Lions.

Cape Cod Academy – 14
Sturgis East – 2

The Cape Cod Academy girls’ lacrosse team had just enough players to field a full team on Monday afternoon, and faced a significant size disadvantage against a tall Sturgis East squad but you would never notice by looking at the final score which team had the physiological upper hand.

The Seahawks excelled when it mattered most, utilizing a team effort to make quick work of the Storm in a 14-2 victory at Sandy Pond.

Sturgis East and CCA had equal possession time and scoring opportunities in the opening half, but the difference came as the Seahawk attack made the most of their opportunities to take a 7-1 lead at the half.

“The first half, we just took advantage of our chances,” Cape Cod Academy head coach Jenn Peterson said after the game. “I thought they won many more draw controls, won many groundballs I thought they dominated possession and we just took more advantage of our opportunities, which is kind of what we’ve done all year.”

Cape Cod Academy's Katie Hassett tries to elude Sturgis East's Laurenn Dedecko in yesterday's 14-2 Seahawks' win. Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports

Cape Cod Academy’s Katie Hassett tries to elude Sturgis East’s Laurenn Dedecko in yesterday’s 14-2 Seahawks’ win.
Phil Garceau/Capecod.com Sports

Draw controls were an advantage for the Storm team during the first 25 minutes of the game. However, their possessions quickly fizzled out as the East offense struggled to penetrate the Seahawk interior defense.

“We have a young team so expectations might be hard to overcome,” said Peterson. ”Our draw control, its such a big part of the game and the first half of the half we weren’t able to control them but we got by.”

Sturgis East scored their lone goal of the first half from Sasha McEnaney, which at the time cut the deficit down to 2-1.

The Seahawks’ defense stiffened up from that point on behind a stellar half from goalie Tenzin Pelzom, shutting out the Storm until the final 20 seconds of the game when Laurenn Dedecko scored when the Seahawks couldn’t field a full team due to an injury to Katie Bailey.

The Academy’s offense scored 12 consecutive goals to put the game out of reach, receiving four goals from Amelia Way who led the offense. Lilah Way, Becca White, Jo Jo Edmonds and Hadley Way each scored twice while Rebekah Nicholas and Bailey added single tallies.

“I have a group of seven or eight seniors who can run an offense and understand how to run an offense without any help from us,” Peterson explained. “They can figure out what’s going to work and what’s not.”

 — Written by contributing sportswriter Phil Garceau. Edited by Capecod.com Sports Editor Sean Walsh

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