READFIELD — The rest of his teammates may have been less than thrilled about playing on a narrow, natural grass field.

Eric LaBrie loved it.

“I like coming back here,” said the Yarmouth sophomore. “It’s a great feeling.”

For the second straight year, LaBrie scored the winning goal to put the Clippers into the Class B boys’ soccer state championship game. On Wednesday night he scored in the eighth minute and second-seeded Yarmouth held on for a 1-0 victory over top-ranked Maranacook.

The goal was LaBrie’s third of the playoffs and 15th of the year. Yarmouth (14-2-1) will face Winslow (16-0-1) in the state final at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Hampden Academy.

Last fall on this field, LaBrie scored in double overtime to give Yarmouth a 3-2 victory.

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Gibson Harnett set up the goal by chasing down a loose ball across the top of the penalty box from left to right and attempting a shot that turned out to be a perfect pass.

“The defender tried to clear it but he miskicked it and it came straight to me,” said LaBrie, who sent it with his left foot into the right corner of the net.

“Eric’s a good striker,” Yarmouth Coach Mike Hagerty said. “He understands: Hit it where the goalie just came from.

“When the goalie slides across to his right and (LaBrie) shoots it back left, it’s hard to break down and make that save.”

Cal Owen made four saves for the shutout. He had help from the crossbar when Maranacook ran a set piece off a direct kick, chipped a pass over Yarmouth’s wall of defenders and sent a crossing pass in front of the goal mouth. Max McQuillen headed a shot past Owen but it caught the frame and bounced back with 16 minutes left.

“I haven’t seen anything like that before and they ran it to perfection,” Owen said. “I’m just lucky it hit the crossbar. That was an easy one they could have scored on us.”

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Maranacook (15-1-1) had several other forays but Yarmouth sweeper Henry Coolidge always seemed to be in the right spot to snuff the threat.

A forward and attacking midfielder for most of his life, Coolidge was asked to shore up the defense earlier this season after two lopsided losses to Falmouth.

“Ever since those Falmouth games, he’s held down that back line,” Harnett said. “He’s almost been like an entire row of defense all by himself.”

“He really cleaned up a lot,” Hagerty said. “They came at us hard. They’re aggressive. They’re fast. They’re tough. And they played to this field, down the middle, narrow, right at you. I thought (Coolidge) was the difference.”

Yarmouth also adjusted its midfield with Matthew Dostie, Luke Groothoff and Max Coury providing a calming influence that counteracted Maranacook’s frantic hit-and-run style of play.

The Clippers put nine shots on net. Justin Freeman finished with eight saves for Maranacook.

“It was fun,” Maranacook Coach Don Beckwith said. “I’d like to play 16 games like this. I really would because we don’t play teams like this.”


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