GORHAM—Two weeks after its worst loss of the season, a stunning 6-1 setback at Falmouth, Gorham’s boys’ soccer team has responded and put the pieces together.

The Deering Rams are still seeking the magic of a year ago.

Both of those things were on display Tuesday evening on Gorham’s homefield, as the host Rams needed less than three minutes to take the lead for good, then they continued their smothering defense of late and went on to a pivotal, Heal Points-rich victory over the reigning regional champions.

Senior Owen Spera put Gorham quickly in front to stay, senior Zach Chandler added a second goal in the first half, then, after Deering had a big edge in second half possession, only to have nothing to show for it, a Spera penalty kick slammed the door and gave Gorham a 3-0 victory.

The Rams won their third consecutive game, improved to 8-4 on the season and in the process, dropped Deering to 7-5-1.

“Losing 6-1 was nothing to take lightly,” said Spera, a captain. “We used it as motivation. We knew we had to bounce back and we did and we’re pointed in the right direction.”

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Lesson learned

Deering struggled out of the gate, losing at Portland in overtime in the opener (1-0), then, after winning at home over Cheverus (3-1), settling for a 1-1 draw at Kennebunk before losing at home to Falmouth (2-1) and Windham (2-0). The Rams then won six straight, downing host Westbrook (3-2), visiting Biddeford (2-1), host Thornton Academy (5-0), visiting Bonny Eagle (5-1), host South Portland (3-1) and host Marshwood (3-2) before losing at home to Scarborough Saturday (2-0).

Gorham also stumbled early, sandwiching 3-0 losses to Windham and Scarborough around a 4-0 win over Biddeford. After downing Kennebunk (4-1), Cheverus (5-1), Portland (2-1) and Bonny Eagle (3-0), the Rams were beaten by South Portland (2-1), then lost in emphatic fashion at Falmouth (6-1).

“I think whenever you give up six goals, it makes you reevaluate everything,” said Gorham coach Nick Viola. “We’ve made some tweaks here and there to help us figure things out.”

Gorham then bounced back with shutout victories over Westbrook (2-0) and Thornton Academy (5-0).

A year ago, Gorham won the regular season meeting, 4-1, in Portland, but the Rams were ousted by Portland in the Class A South semifinals, while Deering went to the state final for the first time, only to lose a heartbreaker to Lewiston in overtime.

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Tuesday, Deering looked to beat Gorham for the first time since Sept. 17, 2013 (1-0 on the road), but instead, Gorham improved to 8-0-3 in the teams’ last 11 encounters.

Deering sophomore Alexandre Almeida pressures Gorham senior Jack Adams early in Tuesday’s showdown, won by Gorham, 3-0. Hoffer photos.

In the second minute, Spera had a chance to put Gorham in front, as he took a pass from junior Tyler Olson after a turnover, but Spera was denied by Deering junior goalkeeper Jack Borland.

Spera wasn’t about to be stopped on his next opportunity, which came with 37:06 to go in the first half.

The game’s first goal was set up by a beautiful long feed off the foot of senior captain Riley Dever, which Spera ran on to and flicked past Borland when the keeper came out to challenge.

“We knew they couldn’t deal well with balls played over the top, so we thought we might catch them off-guard,” said Spera. “Last year, we played them away and we scored in the first minute-and-a-half and it set the tone. We always look to start strong and put games away at the start.”

“I’ve said to the boys that getting the first goal means an awful lot,” said Viola. “It can set the tone for the rest of the game. In really important games like this, sometimes you only get one or two chances and you have to take advantage. Owen’s been a great player for us for two years now. He has a lot of pace, he can test the back line and it was good to see him to get in behind.”

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Deering hoped to counter, but a shot from senior Augusto Daniel was blocked in the box by a Gorham defender and Rams sophomore goalkeeper Antoine Dube beat sophomore Alexandre Almeida to a feed from Daniel.

Then, with 25:23 to play in the half, the home team got a break, as freshman Moises Ntango’s shot deflected off a defender right to Chandler, who just had to tap it past Borland to make it 2-0.

Deering didn’t bow its head and continued to fight, but was stymied, as senior captain Ethan Fisher headed a cross from senior Alberto Lucas-Bayata just wide, sophomore Lucio Quibinda missed wide and Daniel fired a shot that was saved by Dube.

Deering had better chances in the second half, but couldn’t never break through and ultimately, Gorham tacked on one more goal to put it away.

Deering senior Ethan Fisher sends the ball past Gorham junior Colby Jordan.

The visiting Rams earned a corner kick less than a minute into the second half, but couldn’t muster a shot.

After junior Ibrahim Abdullahi ripped a left-footed shot in the box just high, Dube robbed sophomore Samuel Almeida on the doorstep.

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With 29:47 left, Quibinda got his head on a ball in the box, but sent it just wide.

With 10:25 to go, a rising shot from senior captain Peter Sargent forced Dube to tip the ball over the crossbar for a corner kick, which Dube punched out to Abdullahi, who missed high.

Then, with just 6:35 to play, Spera got free into the box and a defender took him down from behind, resulting in a penalty kick.

Spera did the honors and fired the ball past a diving Borland, just inside the right post, for a 3-0 advantage.

Gorham senior Owen Spera beats Deering junior goalkeeper Jack Borland with a late penalty kick.

“I’m confident I’m going to go bury it,” said Spera. “Before the game, I always pick a spot where I’m going to go. It’s all a mentality.”

Deering couldn’t answer and Gorham ran out the clock on its victory.

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“One thing we talked about with Deering is that they’re a great possession team,” said Viola. “They have a lot of very good skill players. They can move the ball from side to side and break you down with combinations, but we stood up to it and earned the win tonight. We need to remain solid defensively. That night at Falmouth showed a lot. We haven’t given up a goal since then.”

Gorham finished with an 8-6 edge in shots on frame and got six saves from Dube.

Deering got five saves from Borland and had a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks, but came up empty.

“We didn’t play well at all in the first half,’ said Rams coach Joel Costigan. “A lot of it was organization, guys doing things we didn’t want them to do. We corrected it and played much better in the second half. We made adjustments, controlled play and we generated opportunities, but we couldn’t score. That’s kind of been the story of our season.”

End of the regular season

Gorham is currently ranked fifth in the Class A South Heal Points standings and finishes with games at Marshwood Thursday and at home versus Windham Monday.

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“Anyone can beat anyone at the end, so if you’re playing your best soccer at the right time, it doesn’t matter what place you finish in,” said Spera. “The best thing for us is to keep our spirits high and rally the team. I think we have the players to do it.”

“Giving ourselves a chance to stay in games is the most important thing so we can capitalize on the few opportunities we have,” Viola said. “Class A South is a very difficult conference. We still have two difficult games remaining and we hope to keep this going in the right direction. We want to be playing our best at the right time and we’ll see what happens from there.”

Deering (sixth in Class A South) has a home showdown versus rival Portland Monday of next week.

“It would be great for momentum to beat Portland, but it doesn’t change anything,” Costigan said. “We’re where we’ll be in playoffs.

“We have fantastic players. We just have to put it together and generate some goals. I hope we’re saving them for playoffs. We have to have that extra grit in the final third. We relied a lot on Nick Simon (Mboumba)’s magic last year and Chandrel (Mangele-Laza)’s grit. We have to find that in this group. Scoring is a mentality. That and we have to minimize mistakes in the back. We have to stay disciplined and have the right attitude in the box.

“We’ve got to put it together for 80 minutes. We’ll see if we have a run in us. I hope so.”

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

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