SCARBOROUGH — Aly Atherton kept Thornton Academy girls’ soccer standout Tori Daigle in check, and her Scarborough teammates took care of the rest.

Katherine Kirk scored after a slick pass from Ashley Perriello through Thornton’s central defenders in the fourth minute of Saturday’s Western Class A showdown, and Perriello’s goal in the 72nd minute clinched a 2-0 victory.

Atherton shadowed Daigle throughout the game, shifting from right to center to left and back. At times Atherton stepped up quickly to take away the ball, and sometimes she played behind Daigle, all the time knowing defenders Bryce Nitchman, Sam Sparda, Emma Smith, and especially left back Elise O’Reilly and midfielder Mary Farnkoff would be nearby to help.

“Not only did we know (Daigle) was a really talented player and a key player on their team, she’s also extremely fast and really physical,” Atherton said. “Our coach doesn’t normally like to man-mark like that, but we thought that was the best way to play this game. I had to eliminate her as much as I could, but she is really fast and the times she did get through, but I knew I had teammates there to support and then I could drop behind again.”

“My idea was to mark space and have Aly play in front of her and then have a back behind her,” Scarborough Coach Mike Farley said. “But Aly just did a great job being near her, and staying with her, and poking balls away, and not letting her get a touch on the ball, so I didn’t see any reason to disrupt her rhythm.”

Both teams expect to finish in the top four in the Western Class A Heal point standings. Scarborough (11-1-1) leapfrogged both Thornton and Marshwood into second place behind Windham – which the Red Storm tied on Wednesday. Thornton Academy (11-2) slipped to fourth.

“Windham was a big game for us, and then (beating) TA has really upped our confidence,” Perriello said.

In the first four minutes of the second half, Daigle twice worked herself free to get passes into dangerous areas, first to Haley DaGraca and then to Cassidy Cochrane. Neither resulted in a shot on goal to test Red Storm keeper Molly LeComte (7 saves).

“We just have to play a little bit more off the ball and do some quicker things and quicker combinations,” Thornton Coach Chris Kohl said. “(Atherton) obviously did a really good job on Tori and took away some things, and obviously they transitioned really well on both their goals.”

Thornton earned its only corner kick of the second half with a little over nine minutes to play. Katherine Gillespie’s left-footed serve got into the center of the box untouched. Scarborough’s Maddie Chen won the ball, then forcibly worked through several Thornton players before passing to midfielder Ashley Gleason, who sent a chip over the defenders and in front of Thornton keeper Alexis Nason (five saves).

Perriello and Nason were part of a multi-player race to the ball. Nason ended up on the ground, while Perriello came away with the ball and then the goal, with no foul called, much to Kohl’s dismay.

“My job is to go for it,” Perriello said. “I wasn’t really too concerned about (a collision).”

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