PORTLAND — Like the rest of her Sanford high school teammates, sophomore Alli Plante was up early Saturday morning, out the door and on the bus at quarter to seven for a bus trip up to Portland for a rare 9 a.m. game against Deering.
Needless to say, she was a little weary on the trip up.
“I was up at 5:30,” Plante said. “I was really tied on the way up here and coming out on the field in the first half, I didn’t feel in the game. It took me a little bit to get into it.”
She easily could have fooled Deering.
A substitute midfielder, Plante came off the bench to score an unassisted goal in both halves to provide the difference as the Spartans won their fourth-straight with a 2-0 victory over the Rams in an SMAA game at Memorial Stadium.
While Plante provided the offense, Sanford (10-3) worked as a team to provide the defense, holding Deering (5-5-2) without a shot on goal as the Spartans played nearly the entire game in their offensive end thanks to the strong play of the midfield, particularly Makayla Garvin and Allison L’Heureux.
Sanford coach Diana Walker had had her team practice at 7 a.m. Friday morning inside the high school’s gym to simulate both the early-morning start and the fast turf surface at Deering, an approach that paid dividends for her team Saturday.
“We beat them to the ball and that was the difference in the game,” Walker said. “We just stepped up. We made some mistakes, we missed a lot but we moved our feet more than they did today. On the turf you have to do that.
“The midfield kept the ball, controlled the ball and didn’t allow the ball to get into that back area very much.”
Sanford’s dominance of the ball started early, with only a nice pad save by Rams goalie Lillian Frager (11 saves) robbing Liz Helmreich of an opening goal eight minutes into the match.
Several other chances inside the Deering defensive circle also went begging late in the half, but the Spartans were finally able to cash in on their supremacy with 5:15 left in the half thanks to Plante.
Starting with a long drive into the circle, Plante came off of her post towards the penalty spot in the center of the goal, where she was able to deflect the ball in on goal. Frager made a pad save, but Plante stuck with the play and was able to knock in the rebound from point-blank range to give her team a 1-0 lead.
“In the circle we had been sticking to the post, and I saw that and noticed that if you come up, you’d be able to get a shot in,” Plante said. “I just had to be ready for it. Get my stick down to where it’s supposed to be and it will go in.”
“She was where she needed to be,” Walker said of Plante on the goal. “She positioned herself between the post and the sweet spot of the penalty stroke line. She didn’t stay stationary, she went to where the ball was and that makes all the difference.”
Sanford continued to push for an insurance goal in the second half, only to be stymied by several nice saves from Frager, while Helmreich had a seemingly good goal from the top of the circle off a corner called off by the officials.
However, Plante was able to seal things with 7:09 to play, getting her stick on the ball in a scrum in front of the Rams goal and depositing it into the cage for the second goal.
It was the second time this season that a pair of Plante goals has provided the winning margin for Sanford this season, the kind contribution Walker can appreciate from a player off the bench.
“She’s getting stronger and more confident in herself, and she’s got some speed,” Walker said of Planet. “Sometimes we need to have that speed on the field to be able to cover both sides and get down the field.”
Sanford will finish off its regular season on Tuesday night with a tough test against 12-1 Gorham, which is 6-0 at home this fall. The Spartans seem to be locked into the No. 6 seed heading into the Western Class A playoffs, meaning a possible rematch with currently third-ranked Gorham could be on the cards in the quarterfinals, making the regular season finale a measuring stick in addition to a possible momentum-builder.
“It’s a really important game,” Plante said. “It would give us a boost of confidence going into the playoffs and kind of get us into the swing of the tournament.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.
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