An hour before the Class A state championship game, the Kennebunk girls’ lacrosse team sat in the Fitzpatrick Stadium bleachers and listened to Jeremie Sirois, their principal. Sirois told the Rams how high school sports can build character, how it can challenge you to learn a lot about yourself, and to go out there and play like they know they can.

A few hours later, Kennebunk had survived its toughest game of the season, taking a 12-10 win over a determined, underdog Yarmouth team. The victory gave the Rams their third straight state championship and extended their winning streak to 49 games.

Kennebunk senior co-captain Ruby Sliwkowski scored seven goals and assisted on another, and said as she started to celebrate with her teammates, the significance hit her.

“I had one of those moments, where everything was going on, but we did it. We go throughout every minute of the game thinking (the score is) zero-zero. Now we can finally appreciate the 49-0. It took a lot of work. That wasn’t easy,” Sliwkowski said.

Until Monday, no opponent has stayed within eight goals of the Rams all season. In the regular season, Kennebunk beat Yarmouth, 15-5. In this game, the Clippers were at their best, despite missing five players, including senior captain Sadie Carnes. All five had trips planned, and when rain postponed the game from Saturday to Monday, they were unable to change their plans, Coach Dorothy Holt said.

“It was amazing. I’m so proud of this team. We executed everything we put in play today,” Holt said. “We just came up a little short. They’re a really good team, and they’re seasoned. We’re young.”

Yarmouth scored the first goal – Brooke Boone free position just 1:17 into the game – and the score was knotted 5-5 at the half. Yarmouth played physical defense throughout the game to try to keep pressure on the Rams, especially Sliwkowski, who finished the season with 90 goals. Playing physical teams like Bedford and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the preseason prepared the Rams for a game like this, Sliwkowski said.

“Today, we let up a little bit. That’s OK to acknowledge. We were too comfortable in the first half. It was up and down in the second half, but the final score, it was our game,” Sliwkowski said.

Kennebunk Coach Ann Barker said the key to taking control was getting her team to simply calm down.

“(Yarmouth’s) been in state games before, so they know what it’s like. And they really believed. We had to tell our kids, they want this more than you at this point. They deserved to be in it, because they were playing very, very well,” Barker said. “The offense wasn’t really moving their feet. Once we told them what they needed to do and just be patient, it will open for you. Then we started to see the holes and play our game.”

With the score tied 6-6 early in the second half, goals from Mara Muse and Sophia Notine gave the Rams their first two-goal cushion, 8-6, with 18:58 to play. Ahead 9-8 with just under six minutes left, Kennebunk scored three quick goals – a pair of Sliwkowski goals and one from Notine – for a 12-8 lead and as much breathing room as they had the entire game.

A pair of late goals from Boone cut the Clippers’ deficit in half, but that was as close as it would get down the stretch.