Scarborough 2

Cape Elizabeth 0

Scarborough’s boys’ soccer team has made it a habit of shutting out their opponents this fall. They rolled through an unbeaten regular season with 11 shutouts in 14 games, outscoring opponents 80-4 entering Saturday’s game with Cape Elizabeth. But the Capers were one of the top teams in the state this year and posed a big challenge. But Scarborough managed to come away with a 2-0 win to earn a spot in the regional final.

“It’s a huge win,” said Scarborough head coach Mark Diaz. “Cape’s obviously a very good team and they tested us in a lot of areas. I’m happy with the way my guys responded.”

The Red Storm stormed out of the gate quickly and earned a couple of corner kick chances in the opening minutes. Trevor Hoxsie managed to get the first shot on net for the Storm almost 10 minutes into the game but Cape keeper Zach Breed made a diving stop.

On the next trip down to the Scarborough end of the field, the Capers got their first corner kick of the game. They managed to get a head shot on goal, but Adam Blanchard was able to corral the ball and keep the game scoreless.

“Adam played great,” said Diaz. “He’s smart and communicated real well in the back. He helped us with our composure and that helped us a lot. You’ve got to have that senior leadership and that was huge.”

Midway through the first half, the Red Storm had a trio of corner kicks. The first two resulted in no shots on net. On the third one, the ball came out to Buddy Reid at the top of the box. He sent the ball toward the net through traffic. Reid’s shot caromed off a Cape defender and by Breed for a 1-0 Scarborough lead.

“That was definitely a big lift,” said Scarborough senior Ian Philbrick of Reid’s goal. “It was a big relief to get the first goal in a big game. It was a great shot.”

“I’m not sure if it went off Danny (Clark) but I know he took a shot at the top of the box,” Diaz said. “We talked about shooting more. He was at the top and he took something off it and put it on net. I think it got deflected and then went in. That was a big goal to get things started for us.”

Late in the first half, the Storm had a chance to go up 2-0 and in fact put the ball in the net. But they came in offside and the goal was no good.

Things were tight in the second half and each team had their share of chances. Philbrick scored the only goal of the second half 14 minutes in. He got in behind the defense and made his shot count to give the Storm a cushion.

“Nick Broadhurst made the run that got me open, I think it was Nick, and Danny gave me a great ball,” said Philbrick. “It was a great pass, I just had to put it on net. That was big because a cushion helps. It took a lot of stress off the defense.”

“It was obviously a good feeling because it just allowed us to do some more things after that defensively,” Diaz said of Philbrick’s goal. “It was huge to get the second goal. I think both teams knew the second goal was going to be real key. It took some pressure off us.”

The Storm were able to keep the Capers out of the net for the balance of the contest and earn another shutout win. They were scheduled to host Greely in the Western Maine Final on Wednesday after the Current’s deadline.