PORTLAND — The Cony girls lacrosse team admittedly didn’t know much about Cheverus, its opponent in the Eastern A title game Wednesday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

The Rams know more than enough about the Stags now.

Senior captain Elyse Caiazzo turned in a dominant performance, scoring a game-high six goals, as No. 2 Cheverus beat No. 4 Cony 16-6 to reach its first state final in program history.

Caiazzo also had three assists for Cheverus, which lost in the previous two regional finals

“We have been waiting for this for so long,” Caiazzo said. “Our dreams finally came true.”

Alex Logan scored three goals while Meredith Willard, Staci Swallow and MaryKate Walsh each added a pair for Cheverus (12-3), which dominated the game from the opening draw.

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Josie Lee had three goals while Hayley Quirion added a pair for Cony (11-4). Bayleigh Logan also scored for the Rams, who were out-shot 26-11.

“It’s hard to come and play someone you haven’t seen,” said Cony coach Gretchen Livingston, whose program is in its sixth year of varsity status. “We have very few common opponents, too. But that was part of it. We also knew (Caiazzo, Logan and Willard) were their go-to players, and, unfortunately, we couldn’t stop them.”

Added Lee: “Overall, we are definitely happy with the season. We were happy to be here. We’re happy to take home something.”

The Stags (15-2) jumped on the Rams from the get-go, scoring three goals in the first eight minutes. Caiazzo had a hand in all three of them.

She came out of the left corner and roofed a shot past Cony goalie Izzy Eames to open the scoring about four minutes in.

“It was great to have the lead,” Cheverus coach Jamie Chamberlain said, “because it took all the pressure off the girls. We could just settle in and play our game.”

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Caiazzo assisted on the next two Cheverus goals, which came about two minutes apart. The latter, which gave the Stags a 3-0 lead, came on a nice pass from behind the Cony net to Logan, who quickly fired a shot past Eames with 17 minutes, 50 seconds left in the half.

“We had our cutters working,” Caiazzo said.

After Caiazzo scored on a direct shot nearly three minutes later to give Cheverus a 4-0 lead, Livingston called a timeout to settle her team.

“They have lots of girls who can put the ball in the net,” she said. “We just didn’t have an answer.”

The Stags never slowed.

Caiazzo slammed home a rebound off her own shot with 14:53 left and Willard made it 6-0 nearly three minutes later when she sprinted down the left side, cut to the middle and beat Eames with high shot to the far post.

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Cony finally broke through when Lee and Quirion scored 32 seconds apart later in the first half.

However, the Stags out-scored the Rams 7-1 to close the half and grab a commanding 12-3 lead.

The Rams would get no closer.

“It was tough but we had a great season,” Livingston said. “This is only our sixth year. We’ve come a long way. We still have a long way to go, but we’re getting there.”

Eames finished with 10 saves while Cheverus goalie Hope Correia had five.

“We’ve been in this position before,” Chamberlain said. “We can empathize with (Cony). We know what this feels like.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com


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