SCARBOROUGH — She had a chance with three minutes left, then another with two minutes remaining in a scoreless tie.
Both times, Rachel Paradis connected solidly with the field hockey ball but sent it left of the net.
When Scarborough continued its attack and Paradis found a rebound bouncing her way for a third golden opportunity, she finally cashed in.
“I kept getting the footing wrong and hitting it wide,” Paradis said. “Then I finally got low enough and got it right into the back. It was incredible.”
The goal by Paradis with 17.9 seconds left gave defending state champion and No. 2 seed Scarborough a 1-0 Class A South quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Falmouth on Wednesday night at the Mitchell Sports Complex.
The Red Storm (13-2) advanced to a regional semifinal Saturday against No. 3 Thornton Academy (13-2), a 2-1 winner over Marshwood.
In the regular season, Scarborough beat Thornton Academy 2-1 last month.
Because Falmouth remained in the Western Maine Conference after moving up to Class A, the teams did not meet in the regular season. Their only common opponent was No. 10 Bonny Eagle, which Falmouth beat 3-2 in a preliminary-round contest decided by penalty corners.
In early September, Scarborough also beat Bonny Eagle by a goal, 1-0.
“I knew it was going to be a battle,” said Scarborough Coach Kerry Mariello. “All of the games in the playoffs are going to be like this. It’s amazing. They’ve all been one-goal games. It’s just a matter of taking advantage of that one opportunity, which we did.”
The decisive sequence started with a shot from Lily Nygren, only the fourth on net for Scarborough. Falmouth goalie Elizabeth Amadei kicked it away.
Scarborough’s Lucy Malia picked up the rebound and sent another shot at Amadei, who again made the save. This time the ball went back to Nygren, who was again thwarted by Amadei, only this time the ball caromed to Paradis near the left post.
Crouching so that her head was only a few feet higher than the artificial turf, Paradis banged home the winner.
“My one thing was that I got low enough,” said Paradis, who also scored an overtime winner earlier this season against Massabesic. “The other times, I was just so desperate to get it in I wasn’t focusing. I had a little bit more time so I really got to focus on getting it in.”
Falmouth (10-6) managed only one shot on Scarborough goalie Alyssa Souza and it came in the first half. Three minutes after intermission, however, Lisa Smoluk whistled a shot just wide of the right post.
“We gave them a great game,” said Falmouth Coach Robin Haley. “I’m really proud of the way we played. It was anybody’s game tonight. Scarborough just knocked it in at the end.”
Scarborough nearly knocked it in with six minutes left, but Falmouth’s Devon Sarazin made a diving stop at the goal line to deny the Red Storm on a ball that got behind Amadei.
“We’ve seen games decided in double overtimes, (penalty) corners, strokes,” Nygren said. “We didn’t want to be in that situation, especially (Wednesday) night, being a school night. We have homework. We’re tired, in general. During a timeout (Mariello) told us, ‘No overtime. We are NOT going to overtime.’ We didn’t.”
Instead they found Paradis. Because of that, their season continues.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.