PORTLAND – Becky Smith couldn’t have made a milestone goal any more memorable.

The Waynflete senior’s 50th career goal turned out to be the only goal Friday afternoon as the Flyers blanked Old Orchard Beach 1-0 in a Western Class C girls’ soccer semifinal at Fore River Athletic Complex.

The third-seeded Flyers (14-2) move on to the regional final on Wednesday. They will play No. 4 seed St. Dominic, which advanced with a 2-1 win over Dirigo.

Seventh-seeded Old Orchard Beach, which advanced to the semifinals with a 3-2 overtime win against No. 2, completed its season with a 11-6 record.

Smith’s goal came 11 minutes into the contest, from about 30 yards. The shot, a high floater placed perfectly to the top right corner of the goal, came at the end of a four-pass sequence. Ella Millard made the final pass.

“I was thinking about the goal but I was really more thinking about wanting to play in November with this team,” said Smith, who was a freshman when Waynflete won the Class C state championship in 2008. “When I did score, I didn’t realize it was my 50th because there’s just so much pressure that the goal meant so much to this team to make it through.”

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Little did Smith know at the time how big the goal would be. The teams expected a much higher scoring game after they combined for 16 goals in their two regular-season meetings, both won by Waynflete.

The lack of scoring wasn’t for lack of chances. It was the Flyers who dominated in the opportunity department in the opening half.

After taking the early lead, Waynflete created at least three more chances to open some breathing room, the best of which came with six minutes left in the half. From midfield, Smith sent a pass ahead to Millard, who moved toward the goal on a partial breakaway. Old Orchard Beach keeper Jaclyn MacDonald made an aggressive charge toward the ball and knocked it away, giving the defense enough time to recover.

The Seagulls’ best first-half chance came four minutes after Smith’s goal, when Olivia Dubois pounced on a turnover deep in Waynflete’s end. The resulting shot was wide of the goal.

Old Orchard pushed for the equalizer early in the second half and almost tied the game four minutes in.

First, a corner played to the front of the goal was narrowly cleared away.

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A free kick followed and resulted in a chance for Abby Dubois from close range that was stopped by Flyers keeper Juliana Harwood.

“We played as tight as we could play Waynflete without winning,” said Seagulls Coach Heath Floyd. “It was the difference of one shot, one bounce.”

MacDonald did all she could to hold her team to within a goal in the second half. The junior made numerous saves, including another breakaway stop on Millard in the final four minutes of regulation.

“More than frustrating, I think it was scary,” said Millard of Waynflete’s inability to connect for an insurance goal.

“If OOB were to get a goal they would have been right back in it. So it was definitely frustrating, but it was like when you miss you’re like, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to counter and who knows what’s going to happen’.”

 


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