LEWISTON — There will be a new state champion in girls’ hockey.

 

Falmouth made sure of that, knocking off defending state champion Scarborough, 4-2, in the Western Maine final Wednesday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

 

The top-seeded Yachtsmen scored the game’s first four goals and withstood a Red Storm comeback to punch their ticket to the state title game. They will play the winner of Lewiston and Leavitt/Edward/Little Poland on Saturday.

 

Special teams played a part in Falmouth’s first three goals — all in the second period. The Yachtsmen (16-4) scored twice on the power play and added a short-handed tally.

 

“Our power play has started to come together a little bit toward the end of the season,” Falmouth coach Rob Carrier said. “We were hit with a pretty bad illness for most of January. It wasn’t until last week where we started to do a lot of special teams stuff. It paid off tonight.”

 

Camden Carrier put Falmouth in front at 2:21 of the second period. Evelyn Clement found Carrier with a circle-to-circle pass and Carrier ripped a shot past Scarborough goaltender Lucca Sterrer as the Yachtsmen capitalized on their first power play opportunity of the contest.

 

The power-play unit struck again just a minute later. Just five seconds after Scarborough was whistled for having too many skaters on the ice, Clement scored on a shot from the slot to make it 2-0 at 3:56.

 

Falmouth’s scoring didn’t just come from its power play unit; it also came from its penalty kill.

 

Down a skater, Sarah Hutcheon stole the puck in the neutral zone and skated in on a breakaway. With no one but the goalie to beat, Hutcheon went far post on Sterrer, giving the Yachtsmen a 3-0 lead.

 

“What we struggled with all year is it takes one bump in the road, one mistake against a team that’s more mature and who’s been playing for quite a few years, they’re going to be able to read that,” Scarborough coach Caitlin Cashman said. 

 

Falmouth added its fourth goal at 8:40 of the second period when Stone Carmichael batted in a rebound off the stick of Abigail Lebel.

 

The Red Storm (14-6-1) made it interesting with a pair of goals in the final 3:20 of the second, both from Samantha Shoebottom. Her first deflected off the skate of a Falmouth defender in front and redirected the puck past Falmouth goaltender Alexandra Hurdman. Shoebottom’s second came off a rebound with 1:21 left.

 

“She’s a great player,” Rob Carrier said. “I don’t think anybody would say otherwise. We knew that limiting her chances was going to be difficult. She’s a player that no matter where she is on the ice, if there’s a puck that’s going to bounce, it’s going to bounce to her.”

 

Despite the momentum heading into the third period, the Red Storm managed just four shots in the third period. They couldn’t capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:17 early in the frame.

 

Scarborough’s title defense came to an end, but Cashman said her players didn’t feel the pressure of repeating.

 

“I think why they don’t is the majority of the team from last year left, whether they graduated or went on to prep school,” Cashman said. “This year we really focused on the team and hard work and I have to say this is the hardest working team I’ve ever coached.”

 

Hurdman finished with 19 saves. Sterrer made 16 stops.