Scarborough junior Jared Greenleaf beats a Gorham defender to the ball during the teams’ showdown Tuesday night. The Red Storm lost, 2-1.

Cape Elizabeth’s Lauren Cutter battles Gray-New Gloucester’s Cara Waltz for possession during the Capers’ 2-1 win in Gray on Monday. The Capers won their first game since the 2014 season.

Cape Elizabeth’s Jack Bassett heads toward a second-place finish at last weekend’s meet at St. Dom’s. The Capers came in second as a team.

(Ed. Note: For the complete Scarborough-Gorham boys’ soccer game story with additional photos, see theforecaster.net) 

The fall sports season began in positive fashion for local squads and there have already been no shortage of memorable contests.

Here’s a glimpse at where things stand with the first full week of the season under our belts:

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Boys’ soccer

Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ soccer team began the season with a loss and a tie, then downed visiting North Yarmouth Academy (2-0) and host Poland (4-0) to improve to 2-1-1. Matt Concannon and Connor Thoreck had the goals against the Panthers. In the win over the Knights, five different players tickled the twine, as Thoreck, Jacob Allen, David Hare, Quinn Hewitt and Nicolai Sabatini did the honors. The Capers had a showdown at Greely Thursday, host Fryeburg Academy Saturday and welcome two-time defending Class B champion Yarmouth Tuesday of next week.

Scarborough lost its opener to Deering, then won two straight, including a 3-0 victory at Bonny Eagle last Thursday, behind goals from Marc Guerette, Spencer Pettingill and Noah Stracqualursi. Tuesday, the Red Storm hosted preseason favorite Gorham and with 39.5 seconds left in the first half, Garrett King gave them the lead, but the Rams scored twice in the second half and beat Scarborough, 2-1, ending the Red Storm’s eight-game unbeaten run in the series.

Scarborough has lost two home regular season games for the first time since 2001.

“(Gorham’s) a good team and it was a good test for us,” said Red Storm coach Mark Diaz. “It’s what we expected. We knew it would be a good, close game. We wanted some questions answered and we got them answered.”

The 2-2 Red Storm were at South Portland Thursday, then host Biddeford next Thursday.

“I’m confident we’ll bounce back,” Diaz said. “The guys want to get better. We’ve lost by one goal two times to good teams. This team will have something to say. I’m not making any predictions, but I have smart players and this has been a learning experience for them.”

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South Portland fell to 1-2 after a 2-0 loss at Gorham last week, then evened its mark Tuesday with a dramatic 3-2 overtime win over Bonny Eagle. Charlie Cronin scored twice, including in OT, and Khalid Suja also tickled the twine. The Red Riots were home with Scarborough Thursday and play at Biddeford Tuesday.

Greater Portland Christian School lost, 10-4, to Seacoast Christian last Wednesday, despite four goals from Ethan Spaulding and 18 saves from Mason Jones. Saturday, the Lions tied host Rangeley, 4-4. JJ Daigneault, Jeremiah Hammond, Micah LaSalle and Killian Patterson had the goals. GPCS fell to 0-3-1 Tuesday with a 2-1 home loss to Rangeley Tuesday (Hammond had the goal). The Lions go to Vinalhaven Tuesday of next week.

Girls’ soccer

On the girls’ side, Cape Elizabeth lost its first two games, but has righted the ship with a 2-0 victory at Lake Region and an 8-1 home triumph over Poland. Prezli Piscopo had both goals against the Lakers. In the win over the Knights, Mariah Deschino had three goals, while Darcy Cochran scored twice and Abby Caswell, Karli Chapin and Caroline Coburn had one goal apiece. The Capers were home against defending Class B champion Greely Thursday and visit powerhouse Yarmouth Tuesday.

Scarborough fell to 1-1-1 last Thursday after a 1-0 home loss to Bonny Eagle. The Red Storm were at defending Class A South champion Gorham Wednesday, visit South Portland Saturday and play host to Maine Girls’ Academy Wednesday of next week.

South Portland fell to 0-3 after losses last week at Deering (2-) and at home to  Gorham (3-0). Goalkeeper Zoe Brown made six saves against Gorham. The Red Riots were at Bonny Eagle Wednesday, play host to Scarborough Saturday and welcome Biddeford Wednesday of next week.

GPCS fell to 1-3 after a 3-2 loss at Rangeley last Saturday and a 4-3 home setback to the Lakers Tuesday. Madi Gant and Grace Mears scored in the first game. Gant scored twice and Courtney Spaulding had the other goal in the second meeting. The Lions go to Pine Tree Academy Friday and play at Vinalhaven Tuesday.

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Field hockey

Cape Elizabeth’s field hockey team had lost 18 straight games and was winless in 20 successive contests entering Monday’s game at Gray-New Gloucester. The Capers, who opened the 2016 season with losses to visiting Freeport (4-0) and host Fryeburg Academy (2-1), fell behind early at the Patriots, then got their first goal of the season, when Taylor Young scored off a penalty corner. Young then scored again with 6:24 to play in the first overtime and at last, Cape Elizabeth had a victory, 2-1.

“I honestly didn’t really think about it,” Young said. “I just took the shot and it went in. Honestly, I don’t really remember it. I just heard my teammates cheering and I knew that it must have gone in.”

“We’ve had so many balls this season — I mean, we saw one that came out off the post — just like believing that at some point one of these balls was going to go in,” said Capers coach Maura Bisogni. “I give them a lot of credit, too, for just staying with it and not getting discouraged.”

Cape Elizabeth (1-2) was home with Greely Wednesday, welcomes Kennebunk Saturday and plays host to Wells Wednesday of next week.

Scarborough has returned to form after successive setbacks to start the year. The Red Storm sandwiched decisive home wins over Deering (12-0) and Bonny Eagle (9-0) around a 1-0 victory at Gorham. In the win over Deering, Liz Callahan, Kristen Levesque and Lucy Malia all had two goals, Carrie Timpson scored her first varsity goal and Ashley Levesque, Lily Nygren, Rachel Paradis, Cara Reynolds and Lauren Topchik all scored as well. Callahan had the only goal against the Rams. In the victory over the Scots, which improved its record to 3-2, Scarborough got three goals from Nygren, a first varsity goal from Tansey Hughes and goals from Callahan, Ashley Levesque, Kristen Levesque, Paradis and Timpson.The Red Storm went to Cheverus Thursday and host Windham Monday.

After a 4-1 home loss to Cheverus last Wednesday (Lydia Henderson had the goal) South Portland got in the win column Friday with a 5-0 triumph at Deering. Henderson had two goals, while Lydia Grant, Amelia Papi and Molly Walker also rattled the cage. The 1-3 Red Riots went to Bonny Eagle Thursday, host Westbrook Monday and visit Windham Wednesday.

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Volleyball

Scarborough’s defending Class A champion volleyball team bounced back from an opening night loss to Greely with three successive wins, including recent 3-0 triumphs at Thornton Academy (25-15, 25-12, 25-15) and at home over Windham (25-17, 25-8, 25-17). In the win over the Eagles, Libby Chadbourne had 10 service points while Natalie Simonton had five kills. The Red Storm were home with Gorham Thursday and go to Yarmouth Tuesday.

South Portland fell to 1-3 after recent losses to visiting Cape Elizabeth and host Gorham. The Red Riots lost to the Capers, 3-0 (17-25, 22-25, 23-25) and to the Rams in four sets (8-25, 16-25, 25-22, 14-25). After hosting Thornton Academy Thursday, South Portland goes to Portland Tuesday.

Cape Elizabeth dropped its opener to Falmouth, but since won three matches in a row, including a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-23) victory at South Portland and Tuesday’s 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-18) win at Thornton Academy. The Capers were home with Marshwood Thursday and visit Gorham Tuesday.

Cross country

Scarborough’s cross country team joined Biddeford and Portland at Massabesic last weekend and both genders came in first. The boys were paced by Shamus Malia, who was first in 17 minutes, 35 seconds. The girls were led by Bethany Sholl, who won the race in 21:22.

South Portland, along with Cheverus and Windham, ran at Marshwood. The Red Riots boys took the top spot, as Xander Keiter was the top individual in 17:55. The girls placed third behind the hosts and the Stags and were led by Serena Mckenzie (fourth in 23:32).

Cape Elizabeth joined Freeport and Fryeburg Academy at St. Dom’s. The girls’ team was first and was led by Kelsey Kennedy (fourth, 21:59). The boys came in second to the two-time defending Class B champion Falcons, as Jack Bassett was the second-fastest individual in 18:35. 

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This weekend, Cape Elizabeth joins Greely, Maine Coast Waldorf School and Traip Academy at Poland, Scarborough welcomes Cheverus, Sanford and Westbrook and South Portland joins Deering and Massabesic at Bonny Eagle.

Golf

Cape Elizabeth’s seemingly unstoppable golf team, the defending Class B state champions, improved to 3-0 with recent wins over NYA (6.5-0.5) and Gray-New Gloucester (7-0). 

Scarborough beat Deering (10.5-2.5) and Portland (8-5) to improve to 3-1 on the season.

South Portland fell to 1-3 after losses to Cheverus (11.5-1.5) and Falmouth (9.5-3.5).

Sun Journal staff writer Wil Kramlich contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.


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