SCARBOROUGH — Time after time, Windham couldn’t convert on its penalty corners in the second half of a Class A South field hockey quarterfinal Thursday against Scarborough.
Then, on the Eagles’ final chance, they produced their biggest goal in years.
Senior Ella Wilcox tipped home a pass from Zoe Dries with 2:05 remaining, sending sixth-seeded Windham to a 3-2 victory over third-seeded Scarborough at Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex.
Windham (10-5) will host a semifinal at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against No. 7 Gorham, which upset second-seeded Biddeford on Wednesday.
Scarborough finished with a 12-3 record.
“It feels really good to beat Scarborough,” said Eagles Coach Cory Didonato. “The girls wanted this so badly.”
The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but Windham’s bus was involved in a fatal accident with a motorcycle on the way to Scarborough and the contest was pushed back 48 hours.
“We took yesterday to just come together as a team and didn’t really focus on field hockey, but more on getting in a good head space,” said Didonato. “As horrible as this week has been, we were there for each other.”
The Red Storm, who had a two-week break between games, grabbed a 1-0 lead with 8:32 left in the first quarter when Ayden Harris collected the rebound of a Daisy Stone shot off a penalty corner and sent it past goalie Emma Theriault (eight saves).
Windham drew even midway through the third quarter, as Hannah Heanssler set up Zoe Dries. Just a over a minute later, however, Harris scored for the second time, assisted by Stella Grondin, and Scarborough took a 2-1 lead to the fourth quarter.
Heanssler tied it again when she pounced on a failed clear and fired it past Scarborough goalie Jamila Mohammed (four saves).
Then, on Windham’s 10th penalty corner, Dries had a shot blocked, then fed Wilcox for the winning tally.
“We just had to chance up the strategy a little bit,” said Wilcox. “Before, I was at the top of the circle, but this time, I pushed my way in. I just had to be aggressive. Zoe got the ball to me and I just knocked it in. It feels pretty amazing.”
Scarborough’s longtime coach, Kerry Mariello, called a timeout in an attempt to rally her team, and the Red Storm earned a corner with 25 seconds remaining, but Windham cleared the ball and ran out the clock.
“It’s absolutely devastating,” said Mariello. “It was a back-and-forth game and they capitalized on one extra goal and we didn’t, unfortunately. It felt like we controlled tempo and possession a lot of time, but they outwilled us at the end.’
“I’m happy with how be played this season. We had a great group and we had some great moments.”
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