KENNEBUNK — The Windham High girls’ soccer team entered the season expecting to be one of the top teams in the Southwestern Maine Activities Association. Now, with the toughest stretch of the regular season coming up, the Eagles will get to prove it.
Windham was dominant Tuesday night at Kennebunk, taking a 5-0 win for its third consecutive shutout and fourth in six games. The Eagles are 6-0 and outscored their last three opponents by a combined score 0f 19-0. Now it gets harder.
Thursday night’s home game against Marshwood (4-2-1) begins a stretch of four consecutive games against teams with winning records, including Falmouth (4-0-1), Gorham (5-0-1) and Cheverus (4-1).
“This was a good warm-up for a really tough road ahead. If we can keep playing like this, stay healthy, we’ll see how we do against tougher competition,” Windham Coach Deb Lebel said.
Windham took a 3-0 lead in the first half with all three goals coming from midfielder Abbey Thornton. Thornton’s first goal came with a quick shot from the left side of the net, just past Kennebunk keeper Mackenzie Howard, with 22:48 left in the half.
With 16:30 left, Thornton launched a high, arc of a shot from 40 yards out, dropping it just out of the reach of Howard for a 2-0 lead.
“I had some space, so I said why not,” Thornton said of the shot.
Thornton’s third goal came off a nice pass from Liz Talbot, who sent a hard pass from the right to left to Thornton in front of the net, who sent the ball to the left corner for a 3-0 lead.
Kennebunk (2-3) had trouble matching up with Windham’s speed throughout the game.
“Windham has incredible speed. To see them match up with some of our faster players and beat them out, it’s definitely hard to adjust and adapt to that,” said Kennebunk Coach Shannon Cavanaugh. “We’ve had a lot of injuries and changing up formations and positions and trying to figure out who fits where. This is definitely a tough stretch for us.”
That speed helped Windham set up scoring chances throughout the game. The Eagles almost scored early with Sarah Talon firing a hard shot off a pass from Elizabeth Levesque 6 1/2 minutes in, but the shot hit the crossbar.
The Eagles added goals from Talbot and Levesque in the second half. This game was similar to Windham’s other recent wins, Lebel said.
“Lots of unselfish play. This was a great test tonight, and people weren’t selfish,” Lebel said.
Goalies Eliza Trafford and Reilly Russell combined for four saves for the shutout. To the Eagles, the win was more proof that what they’re doing is working.
“I think we’re coming in to the game with the mindset, everyone is working hard. If we all work hard on the field, when you’re out there, just give it everything. We want to make a name for ourselves and stand out,” Thornton said.
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