BUZZARDS BAY — Falmouth only held a lead for 2:45 seconds over Sandwich in a crucial Cape & Islands League girls hockey matchup.

That proved to be more than enough as Casey Roth’s goal gave the Clippers a 2–1 come-from-behind victory Wednesday at Gallo Ice Arena.

The turnaround was quick, as an early goal from Adrianna Kelsch gave Sandwich a 1–0 lead it would hold for most of the game. This was largely due to the play in net from Knights captain Sophia Visceglio, who looked poised and polished between the pipes.

“Sophia is so mature for her age,” Sandwich coach Steve Noll said. “She takes control on the ice, in the locker room and earns the respect of the players, the coaching staff and the administration. It means a lot.”

That doesn’t mean that the play in the other crease was any less outstanding. Clippers netminder Lucy Armour was perfect after the opening goal despite numerous strong chances for Sandwich.

“They had a lot of odd-man rushes,” Falmouth coach Brian Ferreira said. “She controlled the rebounds excellent and really played great.”

The onslaught started for the Clippers when Rylin Briggs dished the puck to Riley Devlin and the sniper felt out the defense and fired the puck into the top corner. The moment led to a noticeable sigh of relief from Devlin and her teammates.

“There was only three minutes left and I was like ‘that feels so good,’ ” Devlin said. “I had a lot of time and I ripped it short side.”

Roth’s goal would follow in short order, as a shot from Devlin kicked out and the sophomore smacked it into the net. Ferreira said the hard-nosed goal was exactly how this team needed to win the game.

“It wasn’t going to be pretty,” Ferreira said. “We needed to break through, the winner was from going to the dirty areas and fighting for the rebound.”

The win lifted the Clippers to first place in the Cape and Islands League. It also sets up the two team’s next matchup on Feb. 12 as one that will likely determine the league champion.

“Winning tonight was huge for us,” Roth said. “Last year they beat us and won the league. Now, it’s one down and one to go.”

In addition to the increase in Falmouth’s chances at a league title, Roth said the victory gives the Clippers a model for future late-game heroics.

“When we get into situations like that, we can look back and say, ‘let’s do what we did against Sandwich,’ ” Roth said. “It gives us a boost and keeps us loose.”