SCARBOROUGH – Some games, goalposts are Scarborough striker Sarah Martens’ worst enemy. Some games, they’re her best friend.

“I’d say this game they were my friend,” Martens said. “Definitely.”

Martens scored one goal off each post Tuesday night to lead the No. 3 Red Storm to a 3-1 victory over No. 6 Sanford in a Western Class A girls’ soccer quarterfinal at the Mitchell Sports Complex.

The Red Storm (13-1-1) move on to a regional semifinal at No. 2 Thornton Academy (15-0) at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Spartans finish the season at 12-3-1.

Scarborough controlled play early on, holding a 16-5 edge in shots before halftime, 29-9 for the game. Sanford’s only real threats in the first half came from a pair of free kicks by Mary Farnkoff from about 25 yards. One shot went wide and the other was handled easily by keeper Sydney Martin (five saves.)

“We could have easily gotten down on ourselves,” Scarborough Coach Mike Farley said. “Their keeper made some great saves and we sent shots wide. It could have been very frustrating. I told the girls, all we needed was to get two or three goals from 10 shots. If we can do that against a quality opponent like Sanford, we’re going to do well.”

Martens put Scarborough ahead at 15:32, on an opportunity created by Jessica Meader’s rush. Sanford keeper Kellie Tovey (18 saves) came off her line to snuff Meader’s shot. The ball bounced loose. Martens pounced on it, driving a shot off the far, right post and in.

“You can’t get frustrated,” Martens said. “You need to keep your spirits high and just go all out the next time and hope for the best.”

Sanford regrouped at halftime and carried play for most of the opening 10 minutes of the second half. The Spartans tied it at 1-1 at 19:04, when Allison Legere scored on a free kick.

“I just thought, ‘Let’s pick it up,’ ” said Scarborough central defender Maria Philbrick. “We hated giving up a goal, but we just needed to stay focused. I’m proud of how we settled down and finished the game.”

Martens put Scarborough back on top six minutes later, when she took a pass from Meader and again knocked the ball in off the far post.

Meader put the game away with 4:32 left on a pretty finish set up by midfielder Ashley Ronzo. Ronzo carried the ball up the left sideline and slipped a square pass inside at the top of the penalty area. Meader had her back to the goal, trapped the ball with her left foot, turned left and fired with her right.

“That third goal was huge,” Farley said.

“I thought we worked hard but we just didn’t put things together,” Sanford Coach Kendra Brown said. “I don’t think we played as well as we could have, so it’s a disappointing loss. With that said, the girls played hard and didn’t quit. I’m very proud of that.”

Now it’s on to a return date at Hill Stadium in Saco, where the Red Storm suffered their only loss of the season, 1-0 on Sept. 27.

 

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