SCARBOUROUGH — As a driving rain and swirling wind intensified in the second half Wednesday, so did the offensive push of the Scarborough girls’ soccer team.
After a scoreless first half, the second-seeded Red Storm poured on the pressure to defeat seventh-ranked Deering 3-0 in a Class A South quarterfinal.
Scarborough (13-1-1) will be home again Saturday to take on third-seeded Gorham (12-3) in a regional semifinal.
“We needed to be more aggressive in the second half,” said Scarborough Coach Mike Farley. “We talked about winning the 50-50 balls in the middle of the field and just working hard to get to the ball first. And that was exactly what happened on our first goal.”
Just over seven minutes into the second half, the Red Storm cleared a ball from their end by popping a kick back toward midfield.
Mary Farnkoff fought her way into position and won the 50-50 chance, eventually splitting a pair of defenders with a sharp pass that landed on the right foot of Gaby Panagakos. With only the keeper to beat, she sent a drive into the bottom right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead over the Rams (9-6-1).
Scarborough added a goal in the 58th minute off an Aly Atherton corner kick. She unleashed a brilliant effort from the right corner, bending it over the defense and toward the net.
The ball came down just above defensive back Kaliegh Scolville, who scored on a header.
“Our corner service was very good all night,” said Farley. “We weren’t able to capitalize on the others but Aly put that ball in a perfect scoring spot.”
The Red Storm connected on the final goal with 10:54 to play. Panagakos sent a drive from near the right sideline toward the left post, and a surging Maddie Chen crashed through the box to kick the ball out of midair and into the net.
“Scarborough is a real good team; they’re the two seed for a reason,” said Deering Coach Kevin Olson.
“We played them well to 0-0 at the half but we caught some tough breaks in the second. On all three goals, our girls had position, but if someone puts a pass right on somebody’s foot or head, it’s just tough to defend against.”
Scolville, Emma Smith, Bryce Nitchman and Elise O’Reilly helped anchor a defensive effort in front of Scarborough keeper Molly LeComte to help the Red Storm record their eighth shutout of the season.
“It was a good win all over the field,” said Farley. “Our defense has been strong all year and they were again tonight. Any time we can get three goals we’re confident in our chances to win.”
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