SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough and Sanford girls’ soccer teams appeared going in different directions heading into the season.

Though both made the postseason in 2015, the Red Storm lost eight starters and appeared to be facing a rebuilding season. The Spartans, however, lost only two seniors to graduation and has sights on the playoffs again.

Following Tuesday’s 2-2 tie, both have the look of playoff teams.

Sanford second-year coach Chris Coleman was effusive about his team’s effort, which included a second-half flurry of shots to offset a 2-1 halftime deficit.

“To find yourself down 2-1 at halftime (is tough) but you could see how much the girls wanted it,” Coleman said. “We showed them, and some of the Class A coaches in the stands, just what we are – a force to be reckoned with, especially after that second-half performance.”

Sanford (1-0-1) tied the game at 2 with 21 minutes left in regulation off a corner.

Nichole LeBlanc lofted the free kick from the right side of the goal to the near post, where Kristen O’Connell ran onto the ball and beat her defender and Scarborough goalie Emily Royce (six saves).

“We played well but just didn’t get the result we wanted,” said Scarborough center back Sophia Martens. “Overall we played well, but on set plays and other times we didn’t mark as well as we could have.”

Scarborough (1-0-1) also lost track of an opposing player on Sanford’s first-half goal. O’Connell found Summer Camire alone in the center of the field and the senior forward scored from 20 yards out for a 1-1 score. The play came soon after a Spartans corner kick.

“They’re an up-and-coming team and they got a lot of veteran players. It showed today,” said Red Storm Coach Mike Farley. “We made a couple inexperienced mistakes. We gave up set play opportunities, but they did a good job taking advantage of them.”

Sanford and Scarborough engaged in back-and-forth battle in the middle of the field in the first 20 minutes.

Then the Red Storm kicked it up a notch and scored first when junior Gaby Panogakos got her second goal of the season with 11 minutes left in the half. She lofted a shot from 30 yards over the head of goalie Nikki Perez (12 saves).

With a little less than four minutes before intermission – four minutes after Camire scored to tie the game – Scarborough took a 2-1 lead on a close-in goal by Leah Dickman when she outbattled Perez for the ball.

“It was an outstanding game of soccer to be a part of,” Coleman said. “Scarborough (played great) and so (did) we. I can’t fault (our team’s) work ethic or what they did out there.”

Farley could only find fault in the set plays by Sanford that resulted in both goals.

“I’m happy with the kids’ effort. You can see it in their faces that they were trying hard,” he said. “We got to start playing better as a group. Especially in the mental moments – set plays – we gotta take charge.”

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