CAPE ELIZABETH—A dream season had a nightmare conclusion for Cape Elizabeth’s girls’ soccer team Saturday afternoon at Hannaford Field, as the Capers couldn’t overcome illness and a determined, upset-minded York Wildcats squad in the Class B South semifinals.

Cape Elizabeth, which beat York twice this fall by a composite 12-1 margin, was playing with numerous girls trying to overcome a sickness epidemic that swept the school in recent days and the Capers battled for 80 minutes, but saw their season end in heartache and disbelief.

The Wildcats, who have saved their best for last this fall, took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, on a goal from senior Camden White.

The Capers battled back early in the second half and drew even on a goal from freshman sensation Noelle Mallory.

Cape Elizabeth had some bad luck, as both junior Evelyn Agrodnia and senior Lucy Rayback found the post and/or crossbar and with just over five minutes remaining, York made the Capers pay.

On a free kick, senior Chloe Bourque’s long free kick found the head of classmate Madison Raymond, who flicked the ball into the net to put the Wildcats ahead to stay.

Cape Elizabeth couldn’t answer and York went on to a stunning 2-1 victory.

The Wildcats improved to 8-5-4, ended Cape Elizabeth’s season at 15-1, snapped the Capers’ win streak at 23 games, their postseason streak at 13 games and their title reign at three years and in the process, improbably advanced to the Class B South Final, where they will take on No. 2 Yarmouth (13-3) Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., at Lewiston High School.

“If I’m being honest, I’m a little conflicted, because we recognize Cape isn’t at full strength, but I’m just proud of my girls,” said York coach Nick Hanlon.

“It had to happen at some point,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Graham Forsyth, who lost for just the third time in 77 career games with the program. “Things just didn’t bounce our way. We missed some easy chances, some one-on-ones, we made mistakes our girls didn’t make. Sometimes you have those games and we’ve had those games in the past but we managed to grind it out when we were fully fit. Today, we gave everything we had but we fell short.”

Surprise, suprise

York was a .500 team during the regular season, then eliminated No. 12 Morse (5-0) in the preliminary round and knocked off No. 4 Greely in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, 2-1, behind goals from freshman Scarlett Ring and senior Ella Boissoneault.

Cape Elizabeth, which has been the class of Class B and one of the finest team in the whole state throughout Forsyth’s time as coach, which dates to the start of the 2018 season, went undefeated in the regular season, outscoring the opposition, 71 to 4, and was only tested twice, edging Yarmouth (in the opener) and Freeport (in double-overtime in the regular season finale) by 2-1 margins.

The Capers handled No. 9 Wells in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round, 6-1, but illness soon descended upon the high school and classes were cancelled Friday.

“The girls were a little bit sick after the Wells game and we weren’t able to practice after that,” Forsyth said.

Cape Elizabeth rolled to a 7-0 home victory over the Wildcats Sept. 13, then prevailed, 5-0, at York Oct. 17.

The teams had met three previous times in the playoffs, with the Capers winning twice, including a 4-1 victory in last year’s semifinals.

Cape Elizabeth took the pitch Saturday, but was nowhere near 100 percent.

And the Wildcats made the most of their good fortune.

The Capers, who scored goals so easily all season, couldn’t dent the York defense in the first half and with 22:10 to go, the ball got poked out to White at the top of the box and she lofted her shot over Cape Elizabeth sophomore goalkeeper Libby Hooper and in for a 1-0 lead.

Cape Elizabeth tried to answer late in the half, but a free kick from Agrodnia at the top of the box was denied by York junior keeper Ella Hickey, who tipped it off the far post.

The Capers managed to rise off the deck to start the second half and with 33:13 to go, Mallory continued her exceptional freshman campaign with her final goal, making the score 1-1.

Cape Elizabeth had chances to go on top, but a shot from sophomore CC Duryee was saved by Hickey, Rayback’s header off a corner hit the crossbar and a long shot from senior Piper Duryee was snared by Hickey as well.

“We kind of got to the point in the second half when I turned to my assistant (coach Andy Strout) and I said, ‘Is it just going to be one of those days?'” Forsyth said.

Indeed, it was.

With just 5:43 to go, after a foul, Bourque lined up a free kick from 35 yards out and she served the ball beautifully into the box where Raymond was waiting and she headed the ball in for a 2-1 lead.

“We work on that,” said Hanlon. “Madison’s been absolutely on top of being the target. That’s her seventh or eighth goal like that. That was definitely in our game plan and we capitalized.”

“We knew their main danger was on free kicks,” Forsyth said. “We brought it on ourselves. It was a great delivery and a good header as well.”

With their season hanging in the balance, the Capers tried desperately to answer, but the Wildcats’ defense stood tall and Cape Elizabeth managed just one shot down the stretch, a long bid from Mallory in the waning seconds, which Hickey easily stopped, and the horn sounded, allowing York to celebrate its victory.

“We just talked about improving and being as good as we could over a 10-week period,” Hanlon said. “Cape wiped the floor with us twice. Despite previous results, this shows the character of the girls on this club. This is the first time in a long time we’ve come up here and had a result.

“We prepared to play a little lower in our defense and minimize our fouls. At our place, they got three set piece goals on us. Our goal was just to move our feet and keep them in front of us and minimize their better players getting behind us. I had a baby too, 48 hours ago, so I haven’t been at practice. I’m so proud of my coaching staff and the girls for staying focused through everything.’

York lost twice to Yarmouth this year, 2-0 at home Sept. 10 and 1-0 Oct. 11 on the Clippers’ turf.

The Wildcats have won five of eight previous playoff meetings, but Yarmouth took the last one, 2-0, in the 2019 Class B South quarterfinals.

York will again be the underdog Wednesday, but the Wildcats are looking forward to another chance to keep shocking the world.

“Yarmouth’s good,” Hanlon said. “Last time, they beat us on a penalty kick. Our game plan won’t change a whole lot. At this stage, we understand what our strengths are and what other teams’ strengths are and we’ll just try to play within our limitations and play intelligently.”

Regrouping

Cape Elizabeth hasn’t walked off the field on the short end of a playoff result since falling, 1-0, to Yarmouth in the 2017 Class B South Final, nearly five years ago.

“Today, seven of the starting 11 were sick and probably shouldn’t have been on the field,” Forsyth said. “That’s a testament to them. They should be proud for even stepping foot on the field today. If you watched the game, there were seven girls who gave everything they could and compared to their normal maximum, it was 40 percent less. If they were fully healthy, I think we’d win and it would have been fairly comfortable.

“I’m disappointed we lost and the girls are heartbroken. It’s the toughest team talk I’ve ever had to give because it’s the first one where the seniors aren’t going to get to move on and win it.

“It was a roller-coaster this season. We had a lot of highs and a lot of fun. We can be proud of the girls for all they accomplished this year.”

As always, graduation will take its toll, as captains Piper Duryee and Juliet Moore, along with Caroline Concannon, Maya Nelson, Rayback and Ashley Ryer all depart, after leaving an indelible mark on the program.

“The seniors can look back on their high school career with fondness,” Forsyth said. “They only lost three games. It stings right now, but they should be happy and proud.”

Cape Elizabeth has plenty of firepower returning in 2023 and that group will look to return the program to the pinnacle.

“We told the girls coming back to remember this feeling so they don’t have to feel it in the future, “Forsyth said. “That’s their motivation. This stings, but we’ll get over it and we’ll be back next year.”

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

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