SCARBOROUGH – Bryan Soucy scored off a direct kick with less than eight minutes left to propel Windham to its first Western Class A boys’ soccer championship Wednesday night at Mitchell Sports Complex.
Soucy curled a free kick from near the left side of the bubble around the right side of the defensive wall to lift the second-ranked Eagles to a 1-0 victory against top-seeded Scarborough.
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His goal sent Windham into the state final Saturday against Messalonskee at Falmouth High.
“I was just trying to get it on goal because I haven’t been doing it that much this year,” Soucy said. “It was my first long goal. I was just trying to hit it low because their goalie is huge.”
Red Storm goalie Pat Stanton, who stands 6-foot-3, did get a hand on the ball as he dived toward the right post but he wasn’t able to pull it in.
Although Soucy hadn’t put in a direct kick all season, there was no doubt in the mind of Robbie Lentine, who leads the Eagles with 20 goals, he was the right player to take the shot in that situation.
“When it counts, I know he’s the guy who can put the ball in the back of the net, and we can rely on him,” Lentine said.
It was Windham’s second victory against the Red Storm (13-2-2). On Oct. 1, the Eagles (15-2) won 3-2 at home.
“Scarborough is a great team and if you give them an opportunity, they’re going to bury it,” Windham Coach Colin Minte said. “Today we prevented them from scoring. We got a great opportunity, a free kick, and we put it in.”
Stanton and Windham goalie Dana King each made five saves. But three of King’s saves came in the final seven minutes as he posted his eighth shutout of the season.
“It was a great game and could have gone either way,” Scarborough Coach Mark Diaz said. “They played a great first half, and I felt we did some things the second half that created some problems.”
“It was a battle for the entire game,” Minte said. “It was teetering back and forth, and it was anybody’s game.”
“The key for us was to maintain composure in the back, making sure we didn’t make silly mistakes,” Soucy said.
“Our coach has been preparing us for this and saying we’ve got to work as hard as we can,” Lentine said. “We’ve got to earn this and I feel we did.”
This is Minte’s first season as coach of the Eagles.
“I inherited a great team with some great leadership,” he said. “I’m just so happy for my guys because I know how hard they’ve worked all year. I know they’re deserving of a Western Maine championship.”
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
Twitter: PaulBetitPPH
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