PORTLAND—Entering play Thursday afternoon at Boulos Stadium, Cheverus’ girls’ soccer team was riding high, while the Falmouth Navigators were on a skid.
Eighty minutes later, the teams are going in different directions.
The Stags, who had won five straight, had some great chances to strike first in the first half, but Falmouth freshman goalkeeper Abigail Pausman, despite staring into a unrelenting sun, made some key saves to keep the game scoreless.
The Navigators, who had scored just one goal during a three-game losing streak, then finally came to life late in regulation.
First, senior captain Abbie Ford broke the tie with just over five minutes to play and three minutes later, senior captain Elise Gearan added an insurance goal to produce a 2-0 victory.
Falmouth improved to 5-4 on the season and in the process, dropped Cheverus to 6-2.
“We came off a rough week last week, but we’ve worked hard in practice, so this is just the win we needed to re-set,” said Ford.
Role reversal
Cheverus entered the season young and unproven, but as usual, the Stags find themselves as one of the better teams in Class A South.
After a 5-0 home victory over South Portland in the opener, Cheverus suffered a 4-2 loss at longtime nemesis Gorham (which has yet to lose). The Stags then hit their stride, beating visiting Bonny Eagle (1-0), host Noble (6-2), visiting Kennebunk (4-0), host Westbrook (13-0) and visiting Deering Tuesday (3-1).
Falmouth, a semifinalist in 2021, has a new coach in Ben Johnson this fall and started out by edging visiting Bonny Eagle (1-0) and downing host Noble (6-2). After a 3-2 home loss to Sanford, the Navigators beat visiting Kennebunk (3-0) and host Massabesic (11-0), then fell at Gorham (4-1) and at home to Thornton Academy (2-0) and Scarborough (2-0).
The teams met in the regular season for the first time in 2017, a 2-0 home win for the Stags (the then-Yachtsmen won a 2014 Western A prelim by a 1-0 score), then in 2018, Cheverus won in Falmouth, 2-0, in the regular season and 6-0 in the Class A South quarterfinals. In 2019, the Stags eked out a 3-2 road victory. After not playing in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, last year, Falmouth won at Cheverus, 2-1.
Thursday, on a comfortable late-September afternoon (61 degrees at kickoff), the Stags had their chances to keep their good times rolling, but it would be the Navigators who saved their best for last.
Cheverus got the first good look, seven minutes in, but sophomore Sophia Monfa shot just high after a turnover.
Gearan took Falmouth’s first shot, in the 11th minute, but she missed wide.
The Stags then made things difficult for Pausman the rest of the half, but she didn’t waver.
With 14:16 left, Cheverus nearly struck first when sophomore Annie Vigue crossed the ball in front and sophomore Finley Brown got her head on it, but sent it just high.
Pausman then denied Monfa on a deflected shot, robbed Monfa on a blast, then stopped a shot from freshman Rachel LaSalle.
“I think we were ready for the sun,” said Pausman, who took over in goal after junior Eve Chace suffered a knee injury in the opener. “At first, it was kind of terrifying, but I got used to it and played through it.”
“(Abigail’s) really stepped up as a freshman,” Ford said. “This is a completely new role for her and she’s been great. I’m thankful I have her.”
“Abigail has been superb all season,” Johnson added. “She’s filled a role on the team. As an underclassman, you always try to figure out your role, if there is one, on the varsity team, and she’s taken on this role this year. She kept us in it and did great today.”
Just 44 seconds into the second half, the Stags put Pausman, no longer staring into the sun, to the test once more, but she made a lunging save on a high shot from senior Lilly Hoyt to keep the game even.
Falmouth, which didn’t manage a first half shot, then began to tilt the field and Ford had a couple decent looks, but she sent them high over the crossbar.
After Cheverus sophomore goalkeeper Evelyn Rush denied by senior Audrey Murray and senior Johann Gamedah, Ford got a third chance and it proved to be the charm.
With 5:07 remaining, the Navigators got the ball in the box and tried a couple shots that were blocked. The second attempt ricocheted up top to Ford and she wouldn’t be denied, lofting a shot over Rush and in for a 1-0 lead.
“We’ve been struggling connecting up top lately,” said Ford. “We kept our intensity up, moved some players around up front and it worked out. The ball bounced around in there. Shots got deflected. It came out to me and I shot with the inside of my foot to make sure it didn’t go over like my other shots.”
“We’ve been in a rut scoring, so we’ve been trying to figure out what we need to do to solve that,” said Johnson. “We talked about following up shots and being hungry and Abbie really stepped up.”
Brown had a chance to answer for the home team, but Pausman made a final save.
Then, with just 2:21 on the clock, Gearan delivered the coup de grace, finding room and beating Rush with a nicely placed shot just inside the far post.
“I tell the seniors, ‘It’s your year and if you want us to have success, you have to take control,'” said Johnson. “Abbie and Elise did that today and it was fantastic.”
Falmouth then ran out the clock and celebrated its 2-0 victory.
“We stepped it up in the second half and worked hard,” said Pausman, who stopped six shots.
“We’re connecting all the pieces together,” Ford said. “This is good boost to our confidence.”
“We’re trying to head in the right direction and get better every day,’ Johnson added. “Cheverus is a great team and we had to play the entire game. It’s a good result.”
The Stags had a 6-4 shots advantage, got two saves from Rush and took six corner kicks to just one by the Navigators, but came up empty.
“Even though we’ve come a long way as a team, and I think we’re better now than at the beginning, we’re still young,” lamented Cheverus coach Craig Roberts. “We still need the ability to face some adversity and kind of turn the page quickly. After that first goal, you can’t get it back, so it had to be a next-play mentality and sometimes with young players, that’s tough to do.
“We did play well today. We’re not satisfied with the result, but we played more like the team we can be. We had some opportunities and you have to finish. We were just off on far post runs a couple times. Their goalie played well. She really stepped up for them.”
On to October
Cheverus’ schedule keeps getting more challenging, as the Stags visit reigning Class A champion Windham Tuesday, then host Marshwood (currently unbeaten) next Thursday.
“Today really begins a stretch against more competitive teams that are ahead of us, or even with us in the Heal Points standings,” Roberts said. “To have a playoff-type game under our belt before going into more tough games is going to be very helpful for us.”
Falmouth is back in action Tuesday at home versus Biddeford. Next Thursday, the Navigators visit Deering.
“Our morale is up,” Pausman said. “We’re scoring again, moving around up top again and I think it’s going to be a good rest of the season.”
“Any system, when you change coaches, there will be some growing pains,” said Johnson. “Hopefully, we’ll keep improving, we’ll be in the playoffs and we’ll be scoring more.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.
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