The Gorham Rams haven’t missed a beat this season.

The girls soccer team which has won the last three Class A state titles have run their impressive unbeaten streak to 61 games with wins over Massabesic and Biddeford.

On Monday night, the Rams hosted winless Biddeford and made short work of the Tigers, beating them 7-1. Freshmen Kiersten Turner and Ally Lurvey both had two goals for the Rams in the contest, with Caitlin Caldwell, Rachele Burns and Sam Peters also getting goals for the Rams.

The win against Biddeford was the second big win in a row for the Rams, as they easily dispatched Massabesic 7-0 last Thursday night. Annie Mitchell recorded a hat trick and Burns chipped in a pair of goals in the win. Caldwell and Kristi Zarrilli also scored for the Rams, who are now 8-0 on the season.

“We had a lot of different people scoring goals and different people involved in the goals; it’s not all the same people,” said Gorham coach Jeanne Zarrilli. “I’m happy to see that. It’s what we’re working on in practice; getting more people involved and moving the ball around the field.”

In addition to having four different goal scorers, the Rams also got assists on those goals from five different players.

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The first Gorham goal of the game came just over seven minutes in. Peters took the ball into the corner. Peters spotted Burns in front of the net and made a pass across and Burns buried it for a quick 1-0 Gorham lead.

The score remained 1-0 for a long period after that goal. The Rams took several shots at the net, but were unable to find the twine again until 19:46 to go in the half. That was when Kylie Perrin got the ball ahead to Kristi Zarrilli. Massabesic goalie Kellie Melancon left the net to challenge Zarrilli, but couldn’t wrest the ball away and Zarrilli scored.

“Early in the first half we weren’t breaking out,” said Massabesic coach Toby Stinson. “When we started to transition out, we moved down the field and got some stuff on the outside, then we got some pretty good shots and then transitioned back to defense. But the problem was we cleared the ball and watched the person go. We need to transition to offense.”

Gorham made it 3-0 just over two minutes later. This time it was Lauren Chouinard who brought the ball into the Massabesic end. She moved down the right side of the field and made a pass across to Mitchell in the box. Mitchell kicked the ball right out of the air and into the net.

In the second half, the Rams scored four more times. The first goal came midway through the half when Burns scored her second goal of the game on a pass from Kelly Donaldson. A minute and a half later Mitchell scored her second goal of the game with an assist from Burns.

The second half scoring barrage continued when Caldwell put on in the net just over two minutes later. Perrin assisted on that goal and Gorham was up 6-0. Just over a minute later Mitchell completed her hat trick with the seventh and final Gorham goal.

“Gorham is a class team, a good team,” Stinson said. “They play the way you should play and they showed why they are the defending state champions.”

With the lead the Rams had in the second half, Coach Zarrilli was able to move some of her players around to different positions and get playing time for some of her younger players. It is a strategy that pays dividends.

“I’m very fortunate to have players who are willing to learn different positions and are willing to play where you ask them to,” She said. “Their attitudes have been great and you always want to have that option in case someone gets hurt or you have to make the adjustment. To have a game like this is nice to move people around to different positions and let them play. You have to have kids who are willing to do it and that helps so much.”


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