Yarmouth’s Colter Olson is the Varsity Maine Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year, after a season in which he compiled 82 goals and 63 assists for the Class B state champions. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Asked what senior Colter Olson meant to the Yarmouth boys’ lacrosse team this season, Coach Jon Miller didn’t hesitate.
“Coaches can run practice and scheme, but players win games,” Miller said. “That’s definitely the case with him.”
Olson enjoyed one of the best seasons in Maine high school lacrosse history this spring, producing 82 goals and 63 assists. He was at his best in the biggest game of the season, tallying four goals and seven assists in the Class B state championship game. He assisted on Hakon Yeo’s tying goal with 2.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter before scoring the winner in overtime.
For his efforts, Colter Olson is the Varsity Maine Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year.
“I think it was the guys around me. Being patient with the ball. Being patient with them,” Olson said. “We have a group of really dedicated sophomores. What helped me was trusting them. Everyone did their job.”
On a team with 13 sophomores and just three seniors, Olson had to be a leader, Miller said. In practices and games, Olson was often coaching up his younger teammates.
“We were lucky to have him,” Miller said.
Olson is a strong shooter with either hand, and opponents almost always used a zone defense to try to slow him down. That was the case in the state final. After York scored with 15 seconds left to take a one-goal lead, Yarmouth gained possession when the Wildcats went offside on the ensuing faceoff.
With York in a zone defense and the ball on Olson’s stick, he worked to draw defenders to him, looking to either open a lane for him to shoot or find an open teammate for a shot. With seconds left, Olson saw Yeo parked at the left goal post and made the pass. Yeo buried the equalizer after catching the ball in a shooting motion.
Yarmouth’s Colter Olson, right, scored the winning goal in overtime as the Clippers beat York in the Class B state final. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel
“It was a perfectly threaded pass for Yeo,” Miller said. “You run the odds there, it’s probably a 1% chance it works.”
Olson doesn’t share his coach’s enthusiasm for the play. It worked, yes, but he could’ve set Yeo up with a better pass.
“It was an awful pass. It was at his laces. Hakon was there, like he was all year long,” Olson said.
It was a strong year for Yarmouth boys’ sports, with state titles in soccer, hockey and baseball. Olson was a freshman at New Hampton, a prep school in New Hampshire, when the Clippers won the 2021 lacrosse championship. Unlike so many of his teammates who won championships in other sports, Olson had yet to experience it.
“I look around, and all my friends are winning three a year. When you’re surrounded by it, there’s expectations,” Olson said. “In the halls, people ask you, ‘When’s your time?'”
With York still in a zone defense as the state final went to overtime, Olson got the ball and knew he wanted to take the shot. His plan was to run around and try to create space until he saw an opening. He’d try to shoot low so that if he missed the net, the Clippers could get the ball back and regroup.
Olson weaved through three defenders and saw his chance.
“I put it low and put as much on it as I could,” Olson said.
Added Miller: “That was another time he said ‘I’m ending this game.'”
Olson will continue his lacrosse career at Rutgers University. A traditional men’s lacrosse power, the Scarlet Knights reached the NCAA semifinals in 2022. Olson had originally committed to Air Force as a junior, but due to his concussion history, he failed the strict service academy physical. With his recruitment open again, Rutgers reached out, and he visited the school.
“It felt phenomenal. It felt like a really good home,” Olson said.
Miller thinks Olson will have no trouble fitting in with the Scarlet Knights.
“I think he’s going to have success. He can walk in and be a player immediately,” Miller said.
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