Freeport — No candy was needed to amp up the boys high school soccer teams from Cape Elizabeth and Freeport as the two Western Maine Conference foes battled for the Class B South title Wednesday night.
Both teams played with a lot of intensity and energy, each not giving an inch at Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field over the course of 80 minutes.
The Capers erased a two-goal deficit to tie the game, but a Will Winter tally with 15 minutes remaining put the Falcons ahead. Down the stretch, Falcons keeper Atticus Patrick punched away everything that came his way and Freeport held on for a 3-2 victory for the title.
Freeport’s Owen Patrick kicks the ball away from the sideline and past Cape Elizabeth’s Calvin Stoughton during the second half. (Brianna Soukup / Portland Press Herald)
“This is what the kids have worked so hard for,” Freeport coach Bob Strong said about heading to the state finals.
Cape Elizabeth, which ended Yarmouth’s four-year run as state champs last week, ended it’s season at 9-5-3. Freeport continued its postseason dominance as the Falcons improved to 12-3-2 and will face Class B North champ Presque Isle on Saturday at Hampden Academy at 5:30 p.m.
Freeport gained the momentum early, less than two minutes into the contest to be exact. Off an Ethan Prescott corner kick, Shea Wagner rose above the crowd and knocked home the game’s first score.
“My role is to get to the ball where it’s going to be in the air,” Wagner said. “It’s the first one this year that I’ve connected on, and especially in a game like this, what a great feeling. I knew that was the momentum we needed to get going.”
“They had scored a couple of goals against us off corner kicks, so it was an area we were focusing on, so it was a little disappointing to give up that first goal on one,” Cape Elizabeth coach Ben Raymond said. “To their credit, they’re doing something good to be scoring three times against us on corners.”
Freeport continued to control the midfield, and in the 22nd minute, Wagner again found himself in the middle of the action. After making a strong run down the left side, the senior crossed a ball that appeared to be heading wide of the net. But in from the right came Eriksen Shea to knock it home for a 2-0 Falcons lead.
“I thought it was going wide, but then all of a sudden Eriksen came sliding in to score,” Wagner said.
“All my coaches say make that second run, that back cut, and I was in the right place at the right time,” Shea said. “I know Shea’s a lefty, so the ball was going to curl. I was lucky I was there to put it in.”
Losing 2-0 at Cape in September and winning 2-1 at home in the season finale, Strong knew getting a pair of goals early was huge.
“That first one was really big. We came out with a lot of energy as we needed to,” Strong said. “Getting that second one helped us even more.”
The visitors nearly put one on the scoreboard after a pass from John O’Connor found Archie McEvoy for a shot on goal. Patrick made the save, but McEvoy was there for the rebound. Freeport defender Caleb Arsenault stepped in and blocked the shot to keep the Falcons ahead by two.
With under 10 minutes left in the frame, the Capers registered its first goal when Calvin Stoughton crossed a shot wide of the net, but a streaking Killian Lathrop hustled to the ball and knocked it home for an uncontested goal.
Patrick was at it again in the final minutes, making a diving save before punching out another O’Connor shot to keep the game at 2-1 entering the half.
“I may have punched four or five, maybe six shots tonight, it was a lot,” Patrick said. “Their game plan was to dump it in and we were ready for it.”
Cape Elizabeth outshot Freeport, 6-3, in the opening frame, with Patrick turning away five shots.
Cape ties it
Coming out of the halftime break, the Capers’ game in the middle stepped up a little, creating more opportunities. Cape’s improved play paid off as Nicholas Aceto set up Philip Tarling for the equalizer in the 16th minute.
“They had a good effort in the second half to tie it,” Raymond said. “I think we did a better job getting on top of first balls.”
“We got a little defensive and moved Jesse (Bennell) back, and when you disrupt the flow of game like that, good teams take advantage of it. Cape is too good of a team to not score,” Strong said. “We sustained their surge in the second half. Their mids are so dangerous with John (O’Connor), Nick (Aceto) and Nick (Clifford).”
As momentum wavered back and forth between the two squads, Freeport grabbed it back with Winter’s goal after he picked up a loose ball inside the box that keeper Harry Baker did not field cleanly.
From there, Freeport kept the pressure on, pushing the Capers back on the defense. Cape Elizabeth had a couple of opportunities down the stretch, but a pair of off sides calls thwarted any chances.
“Freeport did a good job playing up and taking away our chances. They’re a well-coached team,” Raymond said.
Freeport ran down the final minutes, holding off a Cape team that refused to quit.
“The kids definitely worked hard until the end,” Raymond said. “We got here by working hard.”
“Really credit those guys for sticking in there and tying it up,” Strong said.
After the game, much of the Freeport fans stuck around to cheer, congratulate and take pictures of the champs.
“This was so much fun with all of our fans here, we can’t wait for Saturday,” Patrick added.
“We knew from the beginning of the season we had a chance to be playing for a state championship,” Winter said. “We just need to do more of the same thing.”
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