SCARBOROUGH — The Scarborough girls’ soccer team scored two first-half goals and clamped down in the final 45-plus minutes Saturday to beat Windham 2-0 in a Class A South semifinal.
Second-seeded Scarborough (12-2-2) will face the winner of the Falmouth at Gorham game – which was postponed until 5 p.m. Monday – in the regional final Wednesday.
Leah Dickman scored both goals for the Red Storm before leaving with 12 minutes remaining in the game when she injured her ankle in a collision with Windham goalie Kaitlyn Roberts.
“It’s always important to get out on top in the beginning because it then changes the momentum of the game because you have the lead,” said Dickman, who walked off the field on her own.
Scarborough Coach Mike Farley said taking the lead allowed his team to bring back nine players in front of goalie Emily Royce, who had three saves, none in the second half.
“(After the goals) we went to a defensive shape and shut the game down,” Farley said. “Defensively, if we have a two-goal lead we’re in real good shape. We can play really organized and make it tough for a team to string passes together.”
The back line of Sophia Martens, Haley Koukas, Sophia Glidden and Ellie Patten limited the Eagles’ offense, which had scored seven goals in its two playoff wins, to just seven shots on goal.
“At halftime I said that we are still in this, it’s not over,” said Windham Coach Deb Lebel. “I really thought we had a shot at coming back. Our kids tried but (Scarborough) was really organized today.”
Dickman gave the Red Storm the lead with 14:51 left in the first half when she dribbled along the goal line, beating a defender, and then flicked the ball over Roberts and into the far corner.
Her second goal came a little more than seven minutes later when she buried a rebound of an Ashley Perriello shot. The slippery ball had fallen out of Roberts’ hands.
Farley wasn’t surprised to see Dickman make an impact.
“The growth of Leah this year has been unbelievable,” Farley said. “She’s such a physical presence. She’s now rolling off defenders, getting forward and being dangerous with the dribble. Leah has been the reason we have gotten into a groove offensively recently. She’s been a big difference-maker.
The Eagles had a few scoring chances in the first half, including Hannah Kaplan’s shot in the box that was blocked and Holly Spencer’s 30-yard shot that went right to Royce.
The second-half opportunities were fewer but a Maggie Symonds header, off a cross from the right wing, went wide of the goal.
The young Windham team. which had five sophomores and four juniors in the starting lineup finished the season at 11-3-3.
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