YARMOUTH—Greely’s girls’ soccer team believes this is the year it ascends to the pinnacle.

A lot of outsiders happen to agree.

Tuesday evening, the Rangers demonstrated why they boast such sky-high aspirations with their biggest win to date, at two-time reigning Class B state champion Yarmouth.

After a scoreless first half, Greely went on top to stay on a gorgeous 35-yard blast from junior Lola Seitz.

The Rangers weren’t content to sit on the advantage and with 13:15 to go, off a brilliant feed from senior Abby Lennox, junior Lily Pierce delivered the dagger and Greely went on to a 2-0 victory.

The Rangers won in Yarmouth for the first time in six seasons, improved to 5-0-2 and in the process dropped the Clippers to 3-2-2.

“Everyone’s been saying this could be our year and I truly believe this game shows we have the potential to win the Gold Ball,” Lennox said. “We’ve been working so hard for this moment.”

Musical chairs

At we reach the midway point of the season, it appears that Class B South is a three team race, consisting of Yarmouth, Greely and Cape Elizabeth, and ultimately, there will be spots for only two teams in the regional final.

The Clippers and Rangers already learned there’s little separation between the two teams, settling for a 2-2 draw in the opener Sept. 5 in Cumberland.

Greely then blanked host Fryeburg Academy (5-0), rallied to tie host Cape Elizabeth (2-2), then downed visiting Waynflete (7-0) and Freeport (2-0) before holding off host York Saturday, 3-1.

Yarmouth, meanwhile, downed visiting Gray-New Gloucester (5-1), played visiting Class A North power Brunswick to a scoreless draw, then won at home over York (3-0) before suffering its first loss in over a calendar year, 2-0, at Cape Elizabeth last Thursday. Saturday, the Clippers got back on track with a 1-0 victory at Wells.

On Opening Day, seniors Jackie Franklin and Molly Partridge had the goals for the Rangers, while seniors Eleanor Ting and Taylor Oranellas answered for Yarmouth.

Tuesday, on a chilly evening (58 degrees and dropping at kickoff), the Clippers hoped to take care of business at home, but instead, Greely earned its first win at Yarmouth since Oct. 2, 2018 (4-3, in overtime).

Yarmouth sophomore Rory Tompkins shields the ball from Greely junior Avery Bush early in the Rangers’ 2-0 win Tuesday. Hoffer photos.

Lennox had the game’s first look, but sent a long shot wide of the mark.

Rangers goalie Lily Warzicki-Stein got involved early, saving shots from sophomore Miah Jacobs (set up by Oranellas) and sophomore Lilah Pernal (off a pass from sophomore Rory Tompkins).

After Lennox set up junior Sami Santerre for a shot off a corner kick which went wide, Ting broke up a rush by Franklin after a turnover.

Warzicki-Stein then saved shots from sophomore Kiki Tompkins and junior Keira Cowans and at the other end, Yarmouth sophomore goalkeeper Marian Pitney went sprawling to deny junior Avery Bush, Pitney beat Franklin to a Lennox cross, then senior Molly Partridge weaved through the defense and found some shooting space, but sent the ball high and the game to the half still scoreless.

Greely then took over in the second half.

Yarmouth sophomore Miah Jacobs races up the field as Greely junior Kelsey Crocker gives chase.

Just 20 seconds in, Bush fired a shot high.

After Ting broke up a pass from Franklin to Partridge, senior Paige Brewer broke up a pass from Lennox to Bush at the last second, setting up a corner kick.

That corner kick led to a sequence where the ball was knocked around to Santerre, who tapped it up top to Seitz, who didn’t hesitate, striking the ball from 35-yards out and she hit it solidly, as it sailed over the outstretched hand of Pitney and in for a 1-0 advantage with 31;58 remaining.

“I asked for the ball, poked my leg at it and it went in,” said Seitz, who came to Greely this year from Alaska. “I saw it was going over the goalie and I thought it was going in. It was luck. It was great timing. It’s been super-nice to be a part of this team. The girls made me feel like I was part of the team instantly. In the preseason, I could sense confidence and that we had a great team dynamic.”

Seitz has stepped right in and made a big impact on the Rangers this fall.

“Lola’s so calm and collected,” Lennox said. “That shot was a rocket. She has such a calm face, then she can do stuff like that. It’s just insane. She’s a great addition to our team.”

“Lola’s been really consistent and solid,” added Greely coach Rachel Williams. “She has a big presence on the field. She hasn’t been shooting and tonight we told her to keep shooting. At halftime, she asked if she was too far out and I said, ‘No, just hit the frame’ and that’s what she did. It was a beautiful goal.”

“She struck that well,” said Yarmouth coach Andy Higgins. “We’ve been on the other side of that and we know it feels. She stung it.”

Yarmouth had just one good look to answer, but after taking a pass from Oranellas, Cowans missed high.

Then, with 13:15 left in regulation, the Rangers struck in transition to put the game away.

Lennox did the honors, sending a perfectly placed long ball up the field on to a racing Pierce, who dribbled in from the left side, then fired past Pitney to make it 2-0.

“(Lily and I) kind of have a good unspoken connection,” said Lennox. “I knew we had the potential to do something there. When she got to the ball, I knew we had it.”

“Abby wants to score goals and when she’s sharing the ball, we’re psyched,” Williams said. “Lily was unstoppable. That was a perfect play. The best defense couldn’t have stopped that.”

“That’s why Abby is who she is and why she’s going where she’s going (St. Anselm’s) because she can change a game with one touch,” Higgins said.

Greely’s defense slammed the door from there and the Rangers were able to run out the clock and celebrate their 2-0 victory.

Greely players race to congratulate goalkeeper Lily Warzicki-Stein following the win.

“We were frustrated with how we played in the first half, but we cleaned it up and came back out with intensity,” Seitz said.

“Yarmouth’s always been a rival, so to beat them and not tie is unbelievable,” said Lennox. “I think we knew we weren’t satisfied from last time we played them. We were eager to beat them on their field. I think we’ve played better on turf than grass, so it worked to our advantage. We said at halftime that the first 20 minutes weren’t our best, but we were getting momentum before halftime. At halftime, we said we had to carry our momentum into the second half and we did that.”

“We were ready and the girls played great,” added Williams. “We’re doing things consistently and we have great leadership from the upperclassmen. We’re starting to score goals. It felt like it was coming. I told them they just need to trust themselves. The defense was focused and dialed in.”

Greely finished with a 6-5 edge in shots on cage, got five saves from Warzicki-Stein and had a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Yarmouth got four saves from Pitney.

“(Greely) made us pay a couple times and that’s what good teams do,” said Higgins. “But I’m really proud of our kids. They competed and battled. We had some good stretches, but we didn’t get great chances. We got bogged down and didn’t adjust to what they gave us. We’ll get that fixed as we move forward. They’re good and they exploited some things. I thought our first half was better than the second half.”

Second half

Yarmouth goes to Waynflete Thursday afternoon and returns home to face Freeport Tuesday of next week.

“This was good preparation for the second half of the season,” Higgins said. “We’ll never get too high or too low after a game. We’ll come back tomorrow and work on trying to get better for Waynflete. The schedule doesn’t get any easier. We’ve been competitive with both (Cape and Greely) and we’re still pretty young and still learning. Hopefully these lessons will pay off down the road.”

Greely stays on the road and goes to Poland Thursday. The Rangers’ next home game figures to be a stern test versus Class C South power North Yarmouth Academy Tuesday of next week.

“We just need to keep up our intensity and energy,” Lennox said. “We don’t want to peak at the wrong time and I don’t think that will happen.”

“We just need to keep playing like we’ve been playing,” Seitz said. “This gives us a lot of confidence that we can keep the train rolling and make it far in playoffs.”

“We just have to be confident and consistent,” Williams added. “We have to keep up our motivation and leadership.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.