GORHAM — Dominating nearly the entire game, Gorham rolled to a 2-0 victory against McAuley in a Western Class A girls’ soccer game Tuesday night.
The Rams held a 20-0 edge in shots on goal to hand the Lions their first loss.
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Still, Gorham Coach Jeanne Zarrilli indicated her squad is capable of playing better.
“It was a little frustrating not to finish,” She said. “We knew (McAuley was) going to come in well-prepared. They have had a great start to their season. They have a great backfield, and we need to learn to be more creative, getting more people involved in the play and not getting lazy when we’re down near the goal.”
The Rams (4-2) had plenty of chances, keeping the ball in the Lions’ half of the field for much of the game.
“(Gorham) did very well,” McAuley Coach Vince Aceto said. “They executed the passing and everything. Our job tonight was to see if we could defend and do a quick counter.”
Because of Gorham’s tight defense, the Lions (3-1-1) never really got a chance to counter-attack
“When you have the ball, they’re swarming three girls on you,” Aceto said. “They don’t need to second defend because one of those three girls is going to take the ball away from you.”
McAuley stayed close mainly because of the work of goalie Molly Miller, who was credited with 20 saves.
“She kept us in the game more than we cared to,” Aceto said. “It’s not the fact that she had to make those saves. It’s more that they got the shots off.”
Kylie Perrin opened the scoring in the 19th minute when she broke in alone on Miller, who has three shutouts this season.
Miller managed to get her left hand on Perrin’s low shot from 10 yards in front, but the ball deflected off her hand inside the right post.
About two minutes before Perrin’s goal, Miller, who had to make a total of 34 saves in the Lions’ first four games, stopped Kiersten Turner from point-blank range.
With less than four minutes left in the first half, Miller leaped to punch a hard rising shot from Perrin over the crossbar.
Kali St. Germain completed the scoring 20 minutes into the second half. She lifted a shot from 5 yards past Miller during a scramble in front of the net following Gorham’s eighth corner kick of the game.
Zarrilli said the Rams are still a work in progress.
“Communication is a big thing we’re still working on, people in positions and what they’re doing,” she said.
“There are some new people in new positions, and they’re still getting comfortable and learning to work with each other.”
Despite the loss, Aceto said that he was satisfied with the way that the Lions played.
“We knew we were going to be in for a battle, and I thought we kept it close, giving up a goal in each half,” he said.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com
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