Andrei Vile put in a header less than two minutes into the second half to provide Cheverus with the only goal it needed Saturday.
The seventh-seeded Stags dominated while rolling to a 1-0 victory against 10th-ranked Westbrook in a Western Class A boys’ soccer prelim played on the turf at Deering High.
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Cheverus will meet second-seeded Noble (11-2-1) in a quarterfinal Wednesday at North Berwick – a rematch of the Stags’ 5-0 victory on the same field less than two weeks ago.
“We played our best game down there,” Cheverus Coach Bill LeBlanc said. “Noble is a great team and hopefully we can play that well again.”
The Stags played a pretty good game against the Blazes (5-8-2), who beat Cheverus 2-1 on Oct. 17 when Kaleb Kent scored on a breakaway two minutes into overtime.
“We came out today with a game plan to possess the ball 80 percent of the time, which we did,” LeBlanc said. “We should have scored a couple more goals.”
Cheverus held a 23-4 edge in shots and an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks.
“I think they may have underestimated us a little bit the first time,” Westbrook Coach John Morgan said. “It was the playoffs so (Cheverus) came out ready and prepared.”
Cheverus had a huge edge in shots during the scoreless first half but it was Westbrook that had the best chance.
It came in the 30th minute when goalie Charlie Mull was caught far off his line while trying break up a run by Kent.
Kent got off a shot but fullback Jacob Dixon stepped in to clear the ball away from an open net.
“It was a great defensive cover by Dixon,” LeBlanc said. “We showed some great composure and stuck with it.”
“We knew coming into the game (Cheverus) would tighten up its defense from the previous game,” Morgan said. “We knew we would have relatively few chances and unfortunately we couldn’t convert that chance.”
MacKenzie Hoglund set up Vile’s goal with a perfect corner kick.
“Me and Andrei are teammates, and I know where he likes to go and I tried to put it right there where he wants it,” said Hoglund, who sent his kick from the right corner right into the top of the goalie box. “Andrei is bigger and faster than everybody, and he jumped as high as he could and headed it right in.”
“It’s disappointing to end the season like this,” Morgan said. “Last year we were a program that had zero wins, both (junior varsity) and varsity. This year, we improved it to 10 (wins) between the two teams.
“We’re not where we want to be, but at least we made progress this year.”
Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.comTwitter: PaulBetitPPH
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