A late second-half goal gave life to the Windham girls soccer team, but could not prevent them from falling 2-1 at home to Cheverus in their Class A West quarterfinal Friday night.

Cheverus led 2-0 for most of the game, which opened with bright and sunny weather before giving way to a cold and blustery finish.

While the temperature dropped, the play of the Eagles rose as they were able cut the deficit in half with less than two minutes left in regulation. The lone Windham goal was registered by senior captain Sharma Wing who had been closely guarded all evening by the Cheverus defense.

“They man-marked me all game, and then double-teamed me when I got the ball,” said Wing. “I had to work a lot harder to have a chance at scoring that goal.”

The Stag offense opened the scoring just over five minutes into the game on a confusing, and slightly controversial play. Cheverus midfielder Kathryn Hess collected the ball on the left side of the net and shot for the near post while appearing to be offside on the play.

Expecting to hear the referee’s whistle, Windham goalie Joanna Clark watched the ball trickle into the net. No call was made on the play, and the goal gave the Stags a 1-0 lead early in the match.

“We though the player was offsides and we stopped playing,” said Eagles head coach Wally LeBlanc. “We would have liked to have had that goal back, but that’s the just the game of soccer.”

However, LeBlanc recognized the determination of Clark in goal, who rebounded to make several point-blank saves that kept her team in the game.

Cheverus dominated the ball for most of the first half, and created another scoring chance with 19 minutes left. Once again, Hess was involved as she tried to set teammate Dana Proscia up with a pass in front of the Windham net. The ball was deflected into the air, but Proscia never let it touch the ground as she drilled it into the left side of the goal for a 2-0 Stag advantage.

The half ended with the score unchanged as Cheverus prevented the Eagles from creating any legitimate scoring opportunities.

Windham came out with renewed energy in the second half and began to threaten the Cheverus goal.

Strong offensive efforts by Wing and Taylor Graves brought hopeful moments for the Windham faithful, but still did not yield a score. Finally, in the waning minutes of the game, the Eagles were able to crack the Cheverus defense.

Windham’s goal came on a pass to the front of the net in heavy traffic. The ball found its way off an Eagle players head to the right foot of Wing who booted the ball past Cheverus goalie Meaghan Mingo to keep the season alive.

“That last 20 minutes we were really trying to get that goal and find our way back into the game,” said LeBlanc. “If we had gotten that goal a little earlier, it would have made it real interesting.”

The Eagles continued to apply pressure, but the Stags were able to run out the clock and secure the 2-1 victory.

Ultimately, all Windham could do was tip their hat to Cheverus for a superb defensive performance that kept the Eagles in check for most of the contest.

“They have a great defense and a great team altogether that worked really hard,” said Wing. “They deserved it.”

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