After No. 6 Windham trounced No. 11 Deering 16-8 in the preliminary playoff round, Windham took on No. 3 South Portland at South Portland in the quarterfinal playoff round on Saturday, June 10. South Portland took a big lead early on and won the game 19-8, and while the score tells one story, the flip side is how hard this team has worked all season for each other and how hard they played during this game.
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| Windham junior Blake McPherson doesn't let a South Portland defender stop him during a boys' varsity lacrosse quarterfinals playoff game at South Portland High on Saturday, June 10. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA |
After a tough first quarter, Yeaton said the team had no thoughts of giving up. He said offense and defense played well and senior goalie Reed Wescott did a great job. A lot of Windham’s struggles came through transition and once South Portland got momentum they just kept going.
Less than five minutes into the game, Windham junior Tobias Perkins scored. South Portland answered and tied the game 1-1. Windham was aggressive, moved the ball and communicated.
Unfortunately, South Portland found the back of the net several times in the first quarter. Perkins scored again before the end of the first quarter.
Perkins said this season in particular Windham has put in a lot of work, so they weren’t going down without a fight. They laid it all out there on the field. He said they may have started a little slow, but even with a big difference on the scoreboard, every Windham player tried their hearts out.
Perkins said when they had the ball, offense went smoothly. A lot of the team’s success this season stemmed from younger guys who had prepared all winter – and were ready – who stepped up on the field.
Windham junior Blake McPherson scored from way outside the crease. Then Yeaton got one between the pipes. At the half South Portland led 12-4.
The pressure and intensity remained in the second half; Windham fought hard. McPherson scored again, then Yeaton scored. In fourth quarter, Windham had more offensive possessions; Yeaton scored again, so did McPherson.
“When we got the ball to offense, working it around, finding the open shots, that worked pretty good; clearing wasn’t bad, transitions were good,” said McPherson.
McPherson said it was hard to keep their heads up after that first quarter, but you need to work through adversity, make it through tough situations and always play with your head up. He was happy with their effort but said they could have done a little more.
Windham senior goalie Phillip ‘Reed’ Wescott did a phenomenal job with 12 saves during the game.
Wescott said they all wanted to win, but as he stood there, win or lose, he was going to put everything he had onto the field. Once Windham started clicking, offense started to go and once defense settled, Windham played offense and defended really well.
“We believed it would be a possession game,” said Windham varsity boys’ lacrosse coach Peter Small. “We thought the game would be won or lost at the midfield and we had to possess the ball, so we had to slow down and set our tempo. We felt defensively we’d be relatively ok if [the ball] wasn’t in transition, and offensively we’d be ok. That’s what it came down to – they beat us in the midfield game, and they beat us in transition.”
Small said when Windham had the ball offensively, they moved it really well. Flip it around, get to the backside get some shots off; shot selection was great.
This whole week the kids held each other accountable – in a positive way – and for Small, that’s what it’s all about. <
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