YARMOUTH — Third-seeded Cape Elizabeth grabbed the momentum of a scoreless game in the final eight minutes and Mariah Deschino did the rest with a hard shot from the right side with 5:40 remaining Saturday, providing a 1-0 victory over second-ranked Yarmouth in a Western Class B girls’ soccer semifinal.
The Capers (11-4-1), the defending Class B state champions, used their front-line quickness to put pressure on the Clippers (9-4-3) with time winding down.
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“We kept feeding the ball through and taking shots,” said Cape Elizabeth Coach Craig Fannon. “That’s what we were trying to do and it paid off.”
The two regular-season games between the teams were split, each team winning a one-goal game.
This figured to be another close game. The conditions were challenging with rain and cold, but Yarmouth’s synthetic field turf at least lessened some of the weather’s impact.
Cape Elizabeth and top- ranked Greely will play for the regional title Wednesday at Cumberland. Greely (13-2-1) advanced with a victory against fourth-seeded Lincoln Academy.
The speed of Cape forwards Kathryn Clark, Kate Breed and Deschino put pressure on Yarmouth’s defense throughout. Toward the end of the game and with overtime looming, they started controlling play with several good chances.
The territorial edge was so pronounced that Yarmouth didn’t get a shot off in the final six minutes.
Breed started the winning play by splitting the Clippers’ defense.
“Kate went between two defenders and passed to me,” said Deschino. “I touched the ball to my right foot and shot for the left corner.
“I went to the turf after I shot and didn’t have a good view of the goal.”
The reaction of her teammates told her that her shot found the back of the net.
Cape celebrated, but knew that it still had some work left.
The Capers still had just under six minutes remaining and responded by keeping the ball out of harm’s way.
“We worked hard the last eight minutes,” said Deschino. “We got the ball where we wanted to and knew something good would happen.
“Yarmouth is a good team. We had one-goal games with them during the regular season. We knew this one would be close.”
The speedy and talented Clark signaled Cape’s control in the late stages by taking the ball down the left side and around the defense to the goal’s left side before she had the ball knocked away.
Both goalies, Tessa Goldstein of Cape Elizabeth and Shannon Fallon of Yarmouth, played well. Fallon didn’t have a chance on the goal.
“The girls played hard,” said Yarmouth Coach Rich Smith. “I thought we played Cape evenly throughout. We had our chances.”
Yarmouth had an edge in corner kicks early, but couldn’t capitalize.
Both teams played evenly in the first half, with a lot of action at midfield. That trend continued in the second half until Cape Elizabeth started to assert itself.
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