PORTLAND – When the Scarborough girls won the Class A soccer state championship in 2010, they allowed one goal in 14 regular-season games.

Two years later, it looks like the Red Storm are playing the same kind of defense.

Scarborough posted its fifth shutout of the season Friday in rolling to a 3-0 victory against previously unbeaten Cheverus at Boulos Stadium.

“That game, against the (Cheverus) forwards, was hard,” Scarborough Coach Mike Farley said. “They really move the ball forward and put a lot pressure on. When they moved forward, we stepped through and won the ball and started the attack.”

The Red Storm (5-0) denied an offense that totaled 32 goals in its first four games.

“Every time someone got beat and (the Cheverus forward) turned to shoot the ball, the next (defender) was right there to block that shot,” Farley said.

“They do a great job team defending. It’s just not one player. They do a great job covering for each other, really challenging for that second ball.”

“Coach tells us we always need to get each other’s back,” said Maria Philbrick, a back. “If one player steps in, another player drops in behind. That makes sure we’re always on top of them, coming up with the ball.”

The Red Storm opened the scoring with less than three minutes left in the first half when Sarah Martens put in a penalty kick for her fifth goal of the season. It was awarded when Jessica Meader was tripped up inside the penalty area after beating goalie Mikayla Mayberry to the ball. Meader spent the rest of the game on the sidelines on crutches.

“The first (goal) was just a hustle play with Jess getting to (the ball) and the goalkeeper tripping her up and we got a penalty kick,” Farley said.

Ashley Gleason made it 2-0 in the 58th minute when she headed in a rebound for her second goal of the season. Mayberry blocked a long shot by Sam Sparda and the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out to Gleason.

“Ashley was in the right place at the right time,” Farley said.

With less than seven minutes left, Hadlee Yescott completed the scoring on a low shot from 20 yards.

“I thought it was really a nice job of gutting out a win,” Farley said. “In this game you had no time to do anything — you were on your back, everybody was pushing around. It was a good, physical game.”

Cheverus was thinking after the game about the mistakes it made that led to Scarborough’s goals.

“I told my girls we played well for 79 minutes and 30 seconds,” Cheverus Coach Dan LaVallee said. “We made mistakes for 30 seconds that punished us. Five seconds here. Five seconds there.

“That’s what top-level soccer is like. You have to focus for all 80 minutes. You’ve got to learn from that. At playoff time, that’s what wins and loses games.”

With seven minutes remaining, Abby Maker, who scored 15 goals in her first four games for the Stags, left with an injury to her right ankle.

Scarborough goalie Sydney Martin made seven saves to post her fifth shutout of the season.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH