By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – A goal just 23 seconds into the game Wednesday was only a hint of what was to come.

Yarmouth wasted little time scoring in its Eastern girls’ lacrosse quarterfinal against Lewiston, and hardly let up in a convincing 21-7 victory.

“I expected exactly what I saw,” said Lewiston coach Don Jalbert. “I knew they had good passers and good shooters. It was tough to decide which one to mark. There was just too many of them, and they were too fast. We just got kind of lost on defense a couple of times.”

The Clippers built a quick 6-2 lead in the first 12 minutes and were up 10-5 at the half. Yarmouth put the game away with a dominant second half, scoring the first five goals and nine of the first 10.

“I think mentally for the kids, (the early lead) is huge,” said Yarmouth coach Dorothy Holt. “It’s also the pressure of sustaining it, and that’s what we did so great today.”

Molly Dilworth led the Clippers attack with seven goals and two assists. Michelle Halpern had four goals and an assist, while Chrissie Attura had three goals and four assists.

Yarmouth was playing without one of its top players, Emily Johnson, who injured her knee late in the regular season. Still, the Clippers had too much speed and passing skill up front for the Blue Devils to contain.

“We’re doing this for her,” Attura said of Johnson. “This is the first playoff game we’ve played without her. A lot of people are stepping it up. We really just came together and worked around it, but it’s been hard.”

Sixth-ranked Yarmouth (9-4) did a nice job shutting down Lewiston’s Kelsey Varney. She often faced a bounty of defenders. Caitlin Anthoine had three goals and two assists while Luca Jacobsen had three goals. Kelsey Rodrigue also added a goal.

“Luca Jacobsen played a hell of a game for us in the middle, and Caitlin Anthoine is another one of those to pick up when Kelsey was double and triple-teamed,” said Jalbert. “We just couldn’t generate the kind of offense that we should or could.”

After the quick goal by Dilworth, Anthoine tied it, but back-to-back scores by Attura opened the lead. Jacobson scored on a backhander, but Yarmouth scored four straight, two from Dilworth, to build a 7-2 lead.

“Our transition was really good in this game,” said Attura. “We’ve been working hard because we don’t have Emily to rely on anymore. So our passing is just boom, boom, boom.”

Anthoine and Jacobson scored late goals to cut the lead to 7-3 and 9-5, but Attura cut through the middle for a goal to end the half up 10-5. The early deficit knocked the third-ranked Blue Devils (9-4) off track, and Lewiston never recovered.

“We couldn’t get closer than four,” said Jalbert. “I kept thinking to myself that if we could get it down to three, we could feel better about ourselves, but we just couldn’t do it.”

Halpern scored 39 seconds into the second half and Dilworth added three goals as Yarmouth opened the lead to 15-5.