YORK — Not much bothers the York girls’ soccer team.
The Wildcats’ Class B South semifinal round game was postponed twice and they found themselves tied with the Greely Rangers in the first half Tuesday but York continued to find answers and as a result moved one step closer to its ultimate goal with a 4-1 win.
The third-ranked Wildcats struck quickly as Nina Howe set up Anabel Santini for an early goal, but Julia Martel answered for 10th-seeded Greely.
York came back 17 seconds later as Howe fed freshman Emily Rainforth for the go-ahead goal and the Wildcats tacked on one more goal before halftime and another in the second half.
York (12-3-1) plays at No. 1 Cape Elizabeth (16-0) at 4 p.m. Wednesday for the regional final.
“The fast start was important,” said Howe, who had three assists, giving her 18 this season. “We wanted to come out strong, score early and we did that well.”
The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, was moved to Monday due to rain, then pushed back to Tuesday due to more rain and poor field conditions, but once the Wildcats took the pitch they quickly made a statement.
In the seventh minute, Howe made a run up the right side and passed in front to Santini, who beat Greely goalkeeper Savannah Lemieux for a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers, who won at Spruce Mountain in the preliminary round and upset Oak Hill in the quarterfinals, drew even with 27:03 to go in the first half when Martel got to Skylar Cooney’s corner kick and beat York goalie Jackie Tabora.
The game then changed for good seconds later as Howe again raced down the right side and crossed the ball to Rainforth, who put the Wildcats on top to stay.
“Whenever someone else scores this season, we’ve gotten down on ourselves and today we didn’t,” said Howe. “I took the ball down and crossed it over. That’s my play. I do take pride in assists.”
“We’re a resilient team,” said York Coach Wally Caldwell. “We’ve rolled with things going on. The girls don’t complain about anything. That’s a testament to the camaraderie of this group. We haven’t answered like that this year. It was great to rebound and get that goal.”
With 7:56 to play in the first half, Santini got the ball past Lemieux and Halee Bando was waiting at the back post to tap it in.
A goal from Peyton Nickerson, off a Howe corner kick, iced the game with 10 minutes to play.
York had a 7-6 edge in shots on goal and got five saves from Tabora.
Greely (8-8-1) had a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks and got three saves from Lemieux.
“We just didn’t come to play and it’s that simple,” said Rangers Coach Josh Muscadin. “York deserved it. Hopefully we learn from it.
“We had a good season, but we could have gone further.”
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