LEWISTON — Falmouth had contained Scarborough scoring machine Sami Shoebottom for most of the game. But the Red Storm got goals from two others to stay tied with the Yachtsmen.
Then Shoebottom broke loose.
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With three goals in the final two minutes, including an empty-netter, Shoebottom led Scarborough to a 5-2 win over Falmouth in the girls’ hockey South region championship Wednesday evening at the Colisee.
“I couldn’t say I was surprised (Shoebottom) let everybody know she was still in the game,” Red Storm Coach Caitlin D’Amour said “She impresses every time we play, every time we practice.”
Top-seeded Scarborough (18-1-1) will play in Saturday’s state championship game against the North’s No. 2 seed, St. Dominic (18-2), a 5-4 upset winner over No. 1 Greely.
Scarborough and St. Dom’s did not meet this season.
Falmouth is done at 15-3-2, with two of those losses coming to Scarborough. The Red Storm out-shot Falmouth 23-20 on Wednesday.
“The issue with Scarborough is getting the puck out of our zone,” Falmouth Coach Rob Carrier said. “We kind of faltered a little bit. (On the winning goal), the puck pops up in the air, lands on Sami’s stick and she buries it.”
The teams skated into the third period tied 2-2 – not a surprise since their two regular-season meetings went to overtime (a tie and a Scarborough win).
It stayed tied until a faceoff late in the third period, with Shoebottom centering.
“On the faceoff before, I hit it to the side and Ellie Smith pinched down and got it back to me for a shot,” Shoebottom said. “We got another faceoff and I said to Ellie, ‘let’s do it again.'”
Shoebottom won the faceoff toward the boards again, and Smith sent it up in the air, back to Shoebottom. The puck dropped in front of her and she fired low, scoring inside the near post at 13:09.
Shoebottom then made a steal and rushed into the Yachtsmen’s zone. She shot once and then got her own rebound for the score at 13:53.
Falmouth called timeout and pulled its goalie. Shoebottom clinched it with her third goal at 14:14.
The Yachtsmen had led 1-0 and 2-1, but Scarborough kept coming back.
Camden Carrier got the first goal on Falmouth’s first power play, at 6:17.
The Red Storm tied it at 13:19 on a rush, when Logan Bruns buried a rebound after a shot by Lauren Topchik.
In the second period, Falmouth’s Marcy Kittredge sizzled in a shot from the slot at 4:32. On Scarborough’s third power play, Lucy Bogdanovich scored off a rebound at 7:18.
It was a rarity for the Red Storm to score two goals in a big game without Shoebottom.
“We’re a full team. It’s never my show,” Shoebottom said. “Logan stepped up huge tonight. Lucy scored. When my time came, I was lucky enough to help the team again.”
Also helping was goalie McKenzie Cormier, who made 18 saves, including a stop on an Evie Clement breakaway at 7:16 of the third period.
Falmouth had other chances, but Scarborough’s defense, led by 4-foot-11 Lily Nygren, quashed the threats.
“Lily is a little water bug out there,” Carrier said. “She’s all over the place; quick, good instincts. That nullified a lot of our scoring chances. We weren’t able to bang home as many rebounds as we’d like.”
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