FALMOUTH — Jade Baumrind’s goal 10 minutes into the first half lifted a weight off her team’s shoulders, striker Grace MacLean said, cutting Bangor free to play its game.
Did it ever.
Additional Photos
Boosted by Baumrind’s header from 8 yards, high-powered Bangor charged past Scarborough 4-0 on Saturday at Falmouth High to win its first Class A girls’ soccer state championship.
“At that point we had a lot of momentum,” said Baumrind, a senior midfielder. “Our mids and defenders were all pushing up. Ashley (Robinson) had the ball to my right. I called for it, she sent it through the air and I headed it in.”
“After that we felt we could actually play,” said MacLean, whose two second-half goals put the game away for Bangor. “Our confidence got a little boost.”
The game plan, said Bangor Coach Joe Johnson, was to “mark their scorers real hard and basically keep playing our game. We would be tough to deal with once we got the momentum going.”
Bangor put the game away with three goals in the first 27 minutes of the second half, two by MacLean and a second by Baumrind, while bottling up Scarborough in the midfield.
“Bangor worked really hard,” said Scarborough senior striker Haley Carignan. “They had a lot of players in the midfield and we didn’t have as much time as we’re used to.”
When Scarborough (14-2-2) did manage to break through, it hit the Rams’ back line of Denea Johnson, Tiffany Gray, Liz Hintz and Erin Butler. Keeper Mia Smith made four saves to post her 10th shutout of the season and seventh in eight games.
With the victory, Bangor (18-0) capped a stunning four-game playoff run, outscoring opponents 18-0.
Also a factor: A chance for the Rams to avenge their 3-0 setback to Scarborough in the 2010 state final.
“I’m proud of how hard our girls played,” said Scarborough Coach Mike Farley. “But from the opening whistle you could see Bangor really wanted to win this game. They put a ton of pressure on us and really took us out of our game.”
The Rams’ job was made easier when the Red Storm lost central defender Emily Tolman to an ankle injury with 10 minutes left in the first half.
“That was huge,” Farley said. “Emily really helps us to not allow players to get in behind us. Avery Pietras and Emily House came in and did a great job, but you can’t replace Emily Tolman.”
MacLean took advantage, collecting a through pass from Baumrind into the penalty area. Red Storm keeper Kate Mader (three saves) came out to challenge, and Mac-Lean dribbled right and drove the ball into the open goal for a 2-0 lead.
MacLean struck again 14 minutes later, running onto a pass from Robinson at the top of the box and chipping the ball over Mader.
Baumrind scored unassisted with about four minutes left, knocking in the carom of a shot off the left post.
“We graduated 12 players last year and we have 11 seniors this year,” Farley said. “Scarborough has a lot of hungry players, so every year we just reload. I have every confidence we’ll be one of the teams to beat again next year.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.