Since the season began, the Scarborough girls’ soccer team has played like it’s on a mission.
The unbeaten Red Storm went through the regular season with a totally unblemished record.
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In 14 Southern Maine Activities Association games, they didn’t allow a goal.
The Storm then overcame three tough opponents in the Western Class A tournament to capture the regional title that eluded them a year ago when eighth-seeded Marshwood pulled off a 2-1 upset in overtime in the quarterfinals.
“Last year we had a team that could have gone a long way but we didn’t get by that first hurdle,” Coach Mike Farley said. “When you’ve lost those kind of games, your desire doesn’t go down. You have more motivation.”
Scarborough will try to win its first Class A state championship today when it plays Bangor at Falmouth High.
It won’t be easy.
“Bangor is as good as anybody we’ve played,” said Farley, who watched the second-seeded Rams upset top-ranked Brunswick 2-1 in the Eastern Maine final Wednesday.
“I know they play as hard as anybody we’ve played. I know we’re going to play as hard as we can for the full 80 minutes and hopefully we’ll score some goals.”
Ashley Robinson and Kim Jordan, who have a total of 42 goals, provide Bangor with a solid 1-2 scoring punch.
But during the playoffs, it’s been Bangor’s air-tight defense that’s made the difference.
In their two previous tournament games, the Rams have shut down the high-scoring Jordan Pellerin of Waterville and Allie Walton of Brunswick.
Bangor and Scarborough aren’t complete strangers. The Red Storm beat the Rams 2-0 in a preseason exhibition.
“We’re very similar teams,” Bangor Coach Joe Johnson said. “We both like to possess the ball and we like to keep it on the ground.”
To help become accustomed to playing on artificial turf, Bangor practiced at Husson University the past two days.
“We certainly have the speed to compete,” Johnson said. “It’s just a question of getting some breaks and putting the ball in the net.”
The Red Storm have allowed one goal in 17 games.
“Normally we break up the play higher up the field,” Farley said. “Our backs, our midfielders and even our forwards do a great job of winning the knockdowns and getting us the ball.”
On average, Scarborough has allowed fewer than five shots per game.
“When the goalies have had to make saves, they’ve had to make some pretty spectacular saves, and that’s not easy when you haven’t seen that many shots,” Farley said.
Jill Deering, who has 10 shutouts this season, has started all three of Scarborough’s playoff games.
Offensively, Scarborough doesn’t have one go-to player. Nearly every player in the lineup seems capable of scoring a goal.
Haley Carignan leads the Red Storm in scoring with 12 goals and five assists.
But 16 players have scored a goal or have had an assist for Scarborough during the course of the season.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com
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