A playoff week of dramatic victories and heartbreaking defeats has left just three city squads standing at press time.

Here’s a recap of the week that was and a look at what remains:

Girls’ soccer

Cheverus’ top-ranked girls’ soccer team survived a scare to move on to the Class A South Final for the second year in a row.

The Stags first blanked No. 9 Kennebunk, 3-0. in last Tuesday’s quarterfinal round, in a game played on the turf at Deering High School due to poor field conditions at Cheverus. Standout Emma Gallant scored all three goals.

Friday, the Stags went back to Deering to host No. 4 Gorham in the semifinals and 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime failed to produce a single goal. That sent the teams to penalty kicks, where whichever squad made the most of up to five chances would advance.

Fortunately for Cheverus, Gallant, Mia Kratzer and Sarah Cummings made their chances, while goalkeeper Neve Cawley made a couple saves to help the Stags improve to 16-0.

“I’ve been going to the right since we’ve played in travel,” said Cummings. “I just feel confident with that shot.”

“I was tired, but I definitely was not ready for this to be my last game,” said Gallant.

“I felt really calm because we’ve practiced PKs a lot this year,” said Cawley (six saves). “I just felt confident and ready for anything.”

“When we went to kicks, I didn’t think our body language was great and I called the girls over and said, ‘Somebody is going to win and somebody is going to lose and it hasn’t been determined yet, so we need to make sure it’s us,'” added Cheverus coach Craig Roberts. “That got them going. That got them pumped up.”

The Stags advanced to battle No. 3 Scarborough (14-2), the two-time defending regional champion, in the Class A South Final Tuesday night in Biddeford (see pressherald.com/forecaster-sports/ for game story). Cheverus beat the visiting Red Storm, 1-0, in the regular season finale, but Scarborough had taken all five prior playoff meetings, with a 3-1 win in last year’s regional final the most recent.

If the Stags prevailed and moved on to the Class A state final for the first time, they will meet either two-time defending state champion Camden Hills (16-0) or Bangor (9-5-2) Saturday at 5:30 p.m., at Hampden Academy.

Portland, meanwhile, was one-and-done.

The Bulldogs, ranked second in Class A South, hosted No. 7 Noble in last Tuesday’s quarterfinal round and were upset, 2-1. Portland fell behind just 27 seconds into the game, on a fluky deflection, then went down, 2-0, in the second half. The Bulldogs got a goal back from senior Isabella More with 11:08 remaining, but that’s as close as they’d get as they lost, 2-1, to finish their best season in 16 years at 11-3-1.

“It hurts because I had a team that did everything the coaches asked and put together one of the best seasons in an awful long time,” said Portland coach Curtis Chapin. “Credit to Noble. They play us tough every time.

“I’m proud of the girls. They’ve been a pleasure to have. They’ve earned everything they got. I’d love to say I expected 11 wins, but I had jotted down about nine. We jelled. The younger players stepped up and the older players took care of them. The record speaks for itself.”

Boys’ soccer

On the boys’ side, Waynflete’s defending Class C state champion found itself two wins from a first repeat title since 2001-02 at the start of the week.

The Flyers, ranked third in Class C South, had no trouble with No. 6 Lisbon in last Wednesday’s quarterfinal round, opening up a 3-0 halftime lead en route to an 8-1 victory. Ian McClure-Chute, Pat Shaw and Aidan Kieffer scored in the first half. Kieffer, Oliver Burdick, Luca Antolini (on a penalty shot), Max Ryan and Wyatt Winson added second half goals.

“All season long, we’ve been a deep team,” Kieffer said. “We think anyone on the field can score at any time. We work a lot on finishing in practice and today it showed.”

“A lot of seniors scored today and that was nice to see them contribute,” said longtime Waynflete coach Brandon Salway. “We wanted more intensity in the second half. It’s a quiet bunch, but they’re intense and we needed to pick it up.”

Friday, the Flyers welcomed No. 7 Traip Academy in the semifinals in a game played at Fitzpatrick Stadium and prevailed, 2-0. Burdick scored from McClure-Chute in the first half and Ben Adey set up his brother, Matt Adey, for a goal in the second half.

Waynflete (14-2) advanced to Tuesday’s Class C South Final to face No. 4 Maranacook (13-2-1) in a rematch of last year’s game in the same round (won by the Flyers, 1-0). The teams didn’t play this fall.

If Waynflete gets to the state final Saturday at 3 p.m., at Falmouth High School, it will meet either George Stevens Academy (11-2-3) or Mt. View (14-2). The Flyers have no history with either potential foe.

In Class A South, Portland, the No. 4 seed, downed No. 5 South Portland, 2-1, in a compelling quarterfinal round game last Tuesday. Alex Millones and Anselmo Tela had the goals and the Bulldogs held off a late Red Riots’ rally to advance.

“We want to win really bad,” Tela said. “We have a really good team. We’re confident.”

“Playoffs are a whole new animal,” Millones said. “We couldn’t let off because (South Portland’s) a good team, but we know a thing or two about defending at the end of games.”

“We knew it would be a tough one,” added longtime Portland coach Rocco Frenzilli. “I’m happy for the boys. They’ve been working hard.”

The Bulldogs then went to No. 1 Gorham for a semifinal Saturday afternoon, the fourth straight postseason they’ve played at the Rams. Portland fell behind early, 1-0, and conceded a second goal in the second half, but a Tela score with 12 minutes left provided hope before the Bulldogs weren’t able to pull even and they went down to a 2-1 defeat to finish the year 11-4-1.

“It was an excellent soccer game,” Frenzilli. “A great one to be a part of. People get their money’s worth when we play.

“You climb that ladder and the higher you climb, the tougher the fall. There can be only one team to win. We accomplished a lot. We lose some great seniors. We’ll miss them, but we’ll come back next year and see where we stand and we’ll try to keep this great streak going that we’ve developed over the years.”

Football

The first round of the Class B South football playoffs saw Cheverus win a thriller and Deering lose by shutout.

The Stags, ranked sixth in the region, went to No. 3 Massabesic and held on to win a 36-34 slugfest. Sean Tompkins had three touchdowns.

Cheverus (5-4) travels to No. 2 Kennebunk (7-2) for a semifinal round contest Friday evening.

In the regular season opener Sept. 6, the Stags lost at the Rams, 48-13. The teams have no playoff history.

Deering ended its season 2-7 after a 49-0 loss at Kennebunk in the quarterfinals. The score was 28-0 after one quarter and 42-0 at halftime.

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

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