SCARBOROUGH — When the Scarborough and Cheverus girls’ soccer teams last met three weeks ago, Scarborough left little doubt about its status as the team to beat in Class A South, scoring two early goals on its way to a 3-0 win.

The playoff rematch Saturday had a much different feel, as fifth-seeded Cheverus held the potent Red Storm off the board for almost 62 minutes in a regional semifinal. Top-seeded Scarborough (15-0-1) finally broke through, however, getting a goal from Molly Murnane to earn a 1-0 victory.

Scarborough (15-0-1) will host the regional final Wednesday against No. 2 Kennebunk. Cheverus finished 14-3.

In the regular-season match, Murnane scored once and assisted on another goal. As a transfer from Maryland, Murnane wasn’t well known going into the season, but Scarborough Coach Mike Farley said that night that “people will know her name eventually.”

Suffice it to say Cheverus knows who she is.

Murnane’s goal came after Leah Dickman won a 50-50 ball against Michaela Jordan and sent it over to Murnane at the top right corner of the box. Murnane unleashed a low shot from 30 yards to the far corner, out of the reach of freshman keeper Neve Cawley (seven saves).

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“(Molly’s) really a key for our team – she’s fast and can get past people really easily, and she’s good at finishing on tough angles,” said center back Sophie Glidden. “We did a good job getting the ball to Molly out wide. We are confident when she gets the ball.”

Farley noted that Murnane knew to keep her shot low because the Red Storm were going into the wind, and said Dickman’s heads-up play and accurate pass were vital to the goal.

“On the play (where) we scored, it was just a great hustle play by Leah to challenge the ball with Michaela, who is a tough player in the air,” said Farley.

“Molly certainly thought about (the wind). She takes low shots all the time. She probably had five (potential) goals she missed by a half foot (on similar shots). But that was right on target (today).”

Defensively, the Red Storm thwarted Cheverus by slowing down speedy wing Emma Gallant. Glidden anchored the back line with Sophia Martens, Haley Koukos and Ellie Patten, who was replaced by Madison Marinko, Lauren O’Reilly and Emily Labbe after she exited because of an injury late in the first half.

“Defensively, we play really well together; we do a good job at talking,” Glidden said. “We pride ourselves in winning 50-50 balls and getting (the ball) out as fast as we can.

“We knew how fast (Cheverus is) and knew if we were going to lose, it would be (to Gallant). We worked on having someone on her all of the time and always (having) a second player there if she beat the first one.”

The Stags applied pressure in the final 10 minutes but couldn’t break through against Scarborough keeper Emily Royce (nine saves), who recorded her 10th shutout of the season. In the last four minutes, Lauren Jordan just missed on a shot to the far top corner, and Scarborough’s Jess Rinaldi and Lauren Sabatino cleared long throw-ins to Abby Cavallaro in the box.

“In the second half, we went to a 3-5-2 to put pressure on them,” said Cheverus Coach Craig Roberts, who is a teacher at Scarborough. “We’ve been good on set pieces and throw-ins and we had a couple opportunities, but Emily is an experienced goalie who plays angles well and knows when to come off the line.”


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