BIDDEFORD — The Biddeford girls’ soccer team made history Friday night.

Logan Kadlec and Cassie Ellis scored as the seventh-seeded Tigers rolled to their first-ever playoff win, 2-0 against No. 10 Portland in a Western Class A prelim at Waterhouse Field.

“It’s a big accomplishment for us, and I’m so proud of my team,” Kadlec said.

Biddeford (11-3-1) will visit No. 2 Falmouth (11-2-1) for a quarterfinal game Tuesday.

The Tigers’ first postseason win was a rematch of their final game of the regular season just three days earlier. In that game, Kadlec scored 10 minutes into the second half to lift them to a 2-1 win over the Bulldogs (5-8-2).

“It was a positive for us, for sure,” Biddeford Coach Darren Boynton said of the previous victory. “Being familiar with an opponent, the girls definitely were ready and they played better.”

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“We made some slight adjustments, but we trust our team,” said Curtis Chapin, a Portland assistant coach filling in for head coach Arthur Mosen, who missed Friday’s game in preparation for his Saturday marriage. “We don’t want to play to our opponent. We play our game and that’s what we tried to do.”

“The girls left everything out on the field,” Chapin said. “You couldn’t ask anything more from this group. It has been five years since we have been in the playoffs and we represented ourselves to the fullest.”

Kadlec opened the scoring in the 17th minute when she converted Deidra Doyon’s corner kick from the left side. The ball bounced among a group of players near the goalie box before Peyton Janelle got a foot on it and pushed it toward Kadlec, who put it in from 5 yards out.

“I didn’t think that goal was going to happen the way it did,” Kadlec said. “I have to thanks Deidra and Peyton for it.”

Immediately after Kadlec’s goal, Portland responded with its first shot on net, but Biddeford limited the Bulldogs’ scoring chances in the first half and countered every time they got their foot on the ball in the defensive end. They held a 10-5 edge in shots during the first 40 minutes.

“We haven’t been to the playoffs in a long time, and I think the playoff atmosphere got to us early,” Chapin said. “I think we settled in nicely during the end of the first half and came out the right way in the second half.”

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Ellis completed the scoring 26 minutes into the second half when she took a pass from Cassidy Sirois, turned and put in a rocket from near the top of the bubble.

Anna Marie Seller and Olivia Curtis collaborated on the shutout. Seller, a sophomore, made one save it the first half, and Curtis, a senior, made two saves in the second half.

The Tigers made their first postseason appearance last season, suffering a 3-1 loss to Greely in the preliminary round.

The team is not made up of any superstars,” Boynton said. “It’s made up of a complete team, and they all rely on each other.”

“We just mix well together as a team,” Kadlec said.

“We honestly are like a family and nothing can break us.”

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

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetit


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