SCARBOROUGH — Fifth-seeded Scarborough struck for two early goals and cruised to a 3-0 victory over No. 12 Kennebunk in the preliminary round of the Class A South boys’ soccer playoffs Saturday.
Scarborough (11-4) advances to the quarterfinals on Wednesday at fourth-seeded Portland.
Scarborough wasted little time in seizing control. Just 3:13 into the game, striker Noah Drapeau took a beautiful cross-field pass from the left side by Liam Bridgham and found the upper left corner of the net.
“We thought we might get some opportunities; we were fortunate to get a couple in early. That really settled us down,” said Scarborough Coach Mark Diaz.
The Red Storm made it 2-0 with 22:17 left in the first half when Brandon Wasser blasted a left-footed shot, off an assist from Marco Manfra.
“We worked really well together,” said Wasser. “The defense played fantastic, really held down the fort back there, and we capitalized on our opportunities. It was a great team win.”
Freshman keeper Quinn Battagliese was busy for the Rams (5-10), making seven saves.
“Quinn has been great. You have to give him a lot of credit. We had a senior goalkeeper, Will Kenneway, unfortunately (get) injured early in the season, and it was one of those situations where Quinn stepped up and really earned the job,” said Kennebunk Coach Greg Cavanaugh.
Kenneway suffered season-ending concussion but made his impact on the team by mentoring Battagliese.
“Will continued to tutor (Battagliese), continued to work with him as he transitioned into the field,” said Cavanaugh. “Quinn’s success this year is directly linked to the work that Will put in with him. You can’t talk about Quinn’s efforts without talking about Will, and that’s a great legacy for Will to pass off because we’re going to have a very strong goalkeeper for quite a few years now.”
The Rams had a couple opportunities to cut into the 2-0 deficit in the second half, but a header by Alvaro Huezo Coto was saved by Morgan Pratt and a free kick by Tristan Wirth sailed high over the net.
“They never quit. This group is built on a workmanlike attitude; they don’t quit, they don’t stop, they’re persistent. That was the case again tonight, it’s just plain and simple (we) lost to a better side,” said Cavanaugh.
“Today was a good, solid playoff win. I thought we defended pretty well today, too, which is critical,” said Diaz.
Elliott Dumais scored the final goal, assisted by Brigham, with 9:07 left.
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