CAPE ELIZABETH — At first, Morse’s strategy of playing a high back line was working well. Over the opening nine minutes, Cape Elizabeth was called offside virtually every time it mounted an attack.

“We haven’t seen that a lot,” said Cape Elizabeth left wing Kathryn Clark. “Most teams know we like to play direct. The disadvantage for us is we were offsides a number of times. The advantage for us was our forwards are very quick and we could get behind their line.”

They certainly did.

Maria Deschino and Clark broke free to score three goals each, leading No. 3 Cape Elizabeth to a 6-1 victory over sixth-seeded Morse in a Western Class B girls’ soccer quarterfinal Wednesday night at Hannaford Field.

“We worked hard as a team, the defense was on point and we worked it up to get the goals,” Deschino said.

“All of us were talking and playing as a team.”

Advertisement

The Capers (10-4-1) move on to a regional semifinal at Yarmouth on Saturday. The No. 3 Clippers advanced with a 4-0 win over Gray-New Gloucester.

The Shipbuilders close the season at 9-4-2.

“We were caught offside five or six times before we figured it out,” Cape Elizabeth Coach Craig Fannon said about adjusting to a high line. “Your forwards have to be a bit more disciplined and hold their run. The biggest part is asking your midfielders to (pass) the ball earlier.

“You just want to play the ball in behind and let your forwards do the rest. We got some rewards from it.”

Clark opened scoring in the 10th minute, driving in a pass from Kate Breed. Just 1:14 later, Deschino made it 2-0, taking a deft back pass from Clark and blasting in a hard shot from the top of the box.

Deschino scored again in the 18th minute, picking up a long through ball from Clark and driving in one on one to beat Shipbuilders keeper Alesha Aucoin (12 saves).

Advertisement

Deschino completed the hat trick seven minutes later, catching up a long diagonal pass from Montana Braxton to again break in on Aucoin. Clark scored on a breakaway to make it 5-0 with 11 minutes left in the half.

Morse got one back in the 35th minute, driving in an arcing shot from 30 yards out. The ball caromed off a Cape defender and landed in the net.

At halftime, Morse Coach Steve Boyce said, “We talked about not playing a game where we’re trying not to let them score.”

The Shipbuilders came out strong in the second half, controlling play for much of the opening 10 minutes. Hard-charging Miracle Trimble, Noa Sreden and Lauren Pelletier challenged but couldn’t solve Cape keeper Tessa Goldstein (eight saves).

“If we’d started (the game) like that,” Boyce said, “it would have been a different score.”

Clark closed out scoring and completed her hat trick in the 72nd minute, slipping a pass from Katherine Briggs inside the left post.

Now it’s on to Yarmouth. The Capers and Clippers split their games this season. Yarmouth won 2-1 at home Sept. 12; Cape won its home game 1-0 on Sept. 30.

“We’ve really been connecting in the later part of the season, putting together everything we’ve been working on all year,” Clark said. “We’re definitely even teams. It’s going to be a tough game.”


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.