LEWISTON—Ava Feeley thought she scored four goals.

She only got credited for two.

And one was the biggest of the senior standout’s career to date.

A goal that sent Yarmouth’s girls’ soccer team to the state final.

Wednesday evening at Don Roux Field, the second-ranked Clippers met upstart No. 5 seed York in the Class B South Final, where little went as expected.

The Wildcats, fresh off dethroning top-ranked Cape Elizabeth in the semifinal round, staggered Yarmouth early when senior Chloe Bourque buried a 30-yard rocket in the fifth minute.

Feeley got the goal back in the 16th minute, finishing a gorgeous feed from senior Kate Sahagian, but twice before halftime, Feeley blasts that appeared to be goals weren’t allowed and the score remained deadlocked.

With 27:32 remaining in regulation, the Clippers produced an improbable would-be hero, junior Neena Panozzo, whose volley into the box somehow found its way into the net.

York refused to go quietly, however, and with 16:25 to go, senior Shea Haseltine scored a pretty goal to knot the contest again.

But with the prospect of overtime looming, Feeley made sure her team would advance, taking a pass from Panozzo and scoring the go-ahead goal and this time, Yarmouth made it stand up as the Clippers held on for a 3-2 victory.

Yarmouth improved to 14-3 as it won the region for the first time since 2017, ended York’s season at 8-6-4 and in the process, set up a state final showdown with Hermon (17-0) Saturday at a time to be announced at Hampden Academy.

“This means the world to us,” said Feeley, who will represent Maine in the All-America game in Florida next month and will play next year at Boston College. “Everyone has contributed so much. I’m so proud of everyone.”

Opportunity

The absence of Cape Elizabeth was certainly felt Wednesday. The Capers, who had won the last three state titles in dominant fashion, appeared bound for a fourth after an undefeated regular season, which included two victories apiece over Yarmouth and York, but the Wildcats instead crashed the party.

After a 5-5-4 regular season, York eliminated No. 12 Morse (5-0) in the preliminary round before upsetting No. 4 Greely (2-1) in the quarterfinals and top-ranked Cape Elizabeth (2-1) in Saturday’s semifinals on senior Madison Raymond’s late goal (see sidebar for links to previous stories).

Yarmouth, meanwhile, lost twice to the Capers in the regular season and once to three-time reigning Class D champion North Yarmouth Academy, but won its other 11 games to wind up second in the region. After blanking No. 7 Freeport (2-0) in the quarterfinals, Yarmouth ousted No. 11 Gray-New Gloucester by the same score in Saturday’s semifinals.

The Clippers beat the Wildcats twice this fall, 2-0 in York Sept. 10 behind two goals from Feeley and again, 1-0, at home Oct. 11, on a Feeley second half penalty kick.

Regardless of its previous success, Yarmouth didn’t come into Wednesday’s contest overconfident.

“We tried to keep the same mindset,” Feeley said. “York’s a great team with a lot of great players. We couldn’t think that we’d already beaten them. We just had to come out and be strong.”

York had won five of eight prior playoff encounters (see sidebar) and Wednesday, on a very pleasant early November evening (53 degrees at the start), hoped to continue its Cinderella run, but instead, Yarmouth earned a berth in the state game for the first time since 2017 behind more Feeley heroics.

Just seconds into the contest, Sahagian tried to give the Clippers a quick lead, but her long blast sailed high.

The Wildcats then struck first in the fifth minute, as Bourque lofted a 30-yard rocket over the hand of Yarmouth junior goalkeeper Regan Sullivan and into the net to stun the partisan Clippers crowd.

Feeley tried to counter, but she had a one-timer saved by York junior goalkeeper Ella Hickey, then missed high. Feeley then set up junior Aine Powers for a look, but Powers also missed the mark.

Then, with 24:46 remaining in the first half, Sahagian booted the ball over the defense and Feeley turned on the jets, got to it first, then went one-on-one with Hickey before easily beating her into the lower right corner to make it 1-1.

“Kate’s placement was amazing,” Feeley said. “I just knew I needed one more good run and had to get around a defender and take a touch with my left foot. I knew I had to hit it hard.”

After Powers had a shot saved by Hickey and Bourque just missed for York, Feeley twice appeared to bury highlight reel blasts only to have neither count.

First, with 15:05 remaining in the half, Feeley, from about 40 yards out lofted a shot that Hickey leaped for to no avail and the ball appeared to hit the underside of the crossbar and go in, but even though the net clearly moved, a goal wasn’t awarded.

Then, with 5:35 left, off a short corner, Feeley took a pass from senior Delia MacDonald and ripped another promising, high blast that clearly moved the net, but again, play continued and the score remained 1-1 into intermission.

“That was pretty frustrating because I saw the net move,” Feeley said. “I just had to keep playing. I knew we’d have more chances.”

“I thought the way the net moved, those shots went in,” said Yarmouth coach Andy Higgins. “Thankfully, the way the game ended, it didn’t matter. I let those things bother me, but the girls don’t let things bother them.”

The Clippers enjoyed a 5-1 edge in shots on frame in the first half, then went out and took the lead in the second.

Just 20 seconds in, Feeley ripped a shot that Hickey had to sprawl to save and the rebound sat free, but neither senior Macy Gilroy and sophomore Taylor Oranellas could get to it and put it home.

After senior Grace Lestage missed wide, Yarmouth got a break with 27:32 to go.

Panozzo served the ball in from well beyond the box and it landed in front and somehow trickled in for the goal and a 2-1 lead.

“That was amazing by Neena,” Feeley said. “She served it in and it went in the box and past the goalie and in.”

“Neena scoring that goal was great,” Higgins said. “We wanted to get our outside players higher and get more numbers forward.”

After Hickey prevented Yarmouth from putting it away by denying Feeley and Powers, the Wildcats answered back.

With 16:25 to play, Bourque passed to Haseltine, who let loose a 30-yard shot that went over Sullivan and in and just like that, the score was even, 2-2.

“That’s only (Shea’s) second goal of the year,” said York coach Nick Hanlon. “She deserved that and hit it really well.”

Feeley then looked to put her team back on top, but Hickey twice made saves on her shots.

Finally, with just 2:29 remaining in regulation and the possibility of overtime looming, Feeley got one more chance and wouldn’t be denied.

Panozzo set it up with a nice pass and after eluding a defender, Feeley was able to rip a shot past Hickey, to the goalie’s left, just inside the near post, to make the score 3-2.

“We’d worked so hard to be here and we couldn’t let their goals get us down,” said Feeley, who recently surpassed former standout Sara D’Appolonia (Class of 2018) as the program’s all-time leading goal scorer. “Neena played the ball in and it was a great ball by her. I just had to have that last run and take a touch and go near post.”

“We just trust Ava so much,” said Gilroy. “It was just a relief to see her score. We just wanted it more in that case.”

“We’ve seen Ava grow as a player and I’m most proud of how she’s grown as a person and as a leader,” Higgins added. “She’s really mature. She’s a great player and an even better person and I’m really glad she wears a Yarmouth uniform and will for one more game.”

The Clippers managed to hold the Wildcats at bay from there and when the final horn sounded at 8:14 p.m,, a celebration five years in the making was unleashed.

“This means the absolute world to me,” Gilroy said. “It feels totally surreal. I feel like we’re so deserving. We’ve worked our tails off since losing here last year to Cape (in the regional final) and it feels monumental to do this. We were gearing up for Cape and we wanted to meet them again, but when we found out it was York, we knew we had to just come in and play our game. That was one of the first times a team has scored on us early this year. We knew we needed to get energized and come back. We came together and believed we could do it.”

“We just had to stay together and stay connected,” Feeley said.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls,” Higgins added. “They’ve battled. We got a lead, then we gave it back, but there was no quit. They battled and worked together and grinded. The seniors have spent four years together and nothing they do surprises me. You hear how coaches can impact players, but there’s not enough talk about how players can impact coaches and I’m forever grateful to be a small part of their journey.

“York was great. Nick had them prepared. They’re much improved from when we saw them a few weeks ago. Tip of the cap to them for their great run, but the girls set a goal to get back here. They were going to be focused tonight no matter who we played. I hope the girls enjoy what they accomplished this evening. When things get tough, they rise to the occasion. They did that as freshmen and all the way through. The kids believed in what we asked them to do.”

Yarmouth finished with a 12-2 shots advantage and took all three of the game’s corner kicks.

Hickey stopped nine shots for York.

The Wildcats’ magical run has ended, but won’t soon be forgotten.

“This group has overcome all sorts of adversity and we were really confident that we could challenge anyone,” said Hanlon. “We really came together as a team. This isn’t the result we wanted, but it was the best soccer we played all year. This is where we wanted to be since day one in August. There’s a lot of tears being shed, but we tip our cap to Yarmouth. They got a great play at the end from Ava. She’s a champion, one of the best players in the state.

“It’s been a little surreal. I don’t think the girls knew they had it in them. It was great to see them mature. We had great leadership all year. They were good leaders at the start of the year and fantastic leaders at the end.”

Eighty minutes to glory

Yarmouth has a chance to sweep Class B as it did in 2016 and 2017, as the boys’ squad is also vying for a Gold Ball Saturday versus John Bapst.

The Clippers, who previously won Gold Balls in 1995, 2003, 2016 and 2017, will seek their fifth crown Saturday against an undefeated Hermon squad, which downed Old Town, 2-0, in the Class B North Final Wednesday.

The Clippers have no history with the Hawks.

“It’s fun that the boys are in the same position,” said Feeley. “It’s such a fun community feeling for both of us to go to states. We just need to keep practicing hard. We’ve had one goal all season. We’re so close. We’re not done yet.”

“It’s a special senior group and now, our next focus is on states solely,” Gilroy said. “We don’t know much about (Hermon). We’ll focus on us and how we play.”

“We’re excited to get back at it tomorrow and we have two days to get ready for Saturday,” Higgins added. “We have to take care of us and we have to get better at doing our thing. That will be our priority the next couple days.

“We’ll head up to Hampden and have some fun.”

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

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