Lydia Roy fell to her knees thinking she had missed another chance.
She hadn’t.
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Roy’s 25-yard strike curved out of a setting sun into the top right corner with 38.1 seconds left in overtime to lift Waterville to a 1-0 victory over Cape Elizabeth in the Class B state championship game at Deering High School.
“I thought it was over (the goal) so I was on my knees and was like, ‘Not again. We have to go into the second overtime,'” Roy said. “Then Sarah Shoulta came running over and said it was in. It’s exactly what I wanted.”
“I don’t think any keeper’s saving that shot,” Cape Elizabeth Coach Craig Fannan said. “It was hit right off the laces and went right in the top bin.”
The game was a rematch of the 2013 final, which Cape Elizabeth won 2-1 in penalty kicks.
Waterville capped an 18-0 season and recorded its 16th shutout of the season. The Panthers outscored their opponents 90-2 through the regional semifinal, then won 1-0 in both the regional final and state final, proving they can win close games.
“A lot of work from last year. A lot of running and I think our fitness showed today,” Waterville Coach Ian Wilson said.
Waterville controlled the final 25 minutes of regulation time and overtime, but prior to Roy’s goal each team had one sterling overtime chance. Cape goalie Tessa Goldstein (seven saves) made a diving stop on Roy with 4:25 to play. Waterville’s Gabrielle Martin (four saves) made a similar sure-handed stop on Mariah Deschino just 45 seconds later.
Cape Elizabeth (12-5-1) was without four players who started its regional semifinal. Katherine Briggs tore her ACL in that game, while forward Kate Breed and defender Melissa Rudberg suffered concussions in the regional final. Defender Morgan Wright also had to sit out Saturday with an automatic one-game suspension for receiving a red card in the regional final when she used her arms to stop a would-be Greely goal.
“We did have four starters out but the girls who came in really stepped up for us,” senior Kathryn Clark said. “We just got unlucky. We missed a few shots. We hit crossbar and they finished a good one. They finished a good goal and we can’t do anything about it.”
Once a deep team, Cape used only two reserves.
“The girls have been fantastic, they really have, it’s just shame we ran out of legs a little bit,” Fannan said.
Early in the game the missing Capers were less noticeable as Kirsten Rudberg, Emma Landes and Morgan Carpenter played well in expanded roles. To help shore up the defense, dominant center midfielder Montana Braxton moved to center back and wowed the crowd with her ability to take the ball from Waterville’s Pilar Elias, one of the state’s leading scorers.
Cape had an 8-2 edge in shots attempted in the first half. Twice they hit the crossbar and then followed up with a header attempt. The first time it was Deschino who got her head on the ricochet forcing Waterville defender Brooke Ettinger to boot away the slow roller before it reached the goal line.
With 12 minutes left in the half, Clark hit the crossbar and Rudberg’s running header went wide.
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