KENTS HILL — If you’re going to travel 110 miles to play soccer in the rain, you might as well go home wet and happy.

That was the case for seventh-seeded Traip Academy of Kittery, which beat No. 2 Monmouth Academy 2-1 in a Class C South boys’ soccer quarterfinal Thursday on the turf at Kents Hill.

Traip (10-4-1) will play No. 3 Hall-Dale on Saturday. Monmouth closes its season at 12-1-2.

Freshman reserve Devon La-Roche scored both goals for the Rangers, the second following a dramatic three-way collision involving LaRoche, defender Nick Dovinsky and Monmouth keeper Brad Neal with 9:32 remaining.

The play began when a ball was chipped into the Monmouth end, leaving Dovinsky, LaRoche and Neal in a race for the ball.

All three converged near the top of the penalty circle.

“Me and (Dovinsky) were kind of arguing the whole game, so my adrenaline was really high,” LaRoche said. “All that was going through my mind was I need to beat this guy. I found an opportunity, and I just tapped it and it went into the goal.”

Monmouth Coach Joe Fletcher wasn’t sure exactly what happened as he watched Neal go down and stay on the ground for a minute after the collision.

“My goalie came out hard and he was still in the box because he was calling for it,” Fletcher said. “There was some contact. I don’t know who initiated it, but it’s unfortunate.”

The Mustangs played without striker Avery Pomerleau (31 goals this season), who missed the game because of an accumulation of yellow cards.

“We had three different players rotate in (for him) and they gave me what they could give me,” Fletcher said. “But Avery Pomerleau’s one of the best players in all of Maine.”

The Kents Hill turf held up well despite a steady rain that sometimes came down hard. The Rangers employed a short-passing, ball-control style, while the Mustangs often ran onto long passes.

“They’re a well-coached team and extremely physical, and I think our guys were a little taken aback at first,” Traip Coach Michael MacLeay said.

“When they scored (the first goal), they obviously went a little more defensive, and our guys kind of took the opportunity and went with it.”

Monmouth senior Cody Roy broke a scoreless tie 2:08 into the second half when he knocked a rebound past keeper Jayce Nelson (seven saves).

With just under 10 minutes gone in the second half, LaRoche evened the score off a penalty kick when he drilled a shot off Hunter Sawtelle’s entry pass. Neal (four saves) nearly made a fine diving save, but the ball squirted past him.

“The goalie got it and it just rolled in,” LaRoche said.

Nelson made a couple good saves, including a one-on-one stop of Nick Camire’s point-blank shot with just over 17 minutes left.

“It was nice to be on the turf,” MacLeay said. “I wish it wasn’t raining, but this definitely makes the bus ride home a little more fun.”

Monmouth players sat on the field in stunned silence for several minutes following the game.

“Our season was fantastic,” Fletcher said. “That’s the first loss in our regular season. This senior group is 57-8 now for four years, which is pretty impressive considering eight years ago, we were on the verge of collapsing.”

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