Gorham 1

Thornton Academy 0

As they often do, the Gorham girls’ soccer team found a way to get a lead and make it stick against Thornton Monday night. Lindsay Wilson netted the only goal of the game to lead the Rams to a 1-0 win over Thornton Academy at Hill Stadium in Saco.

“It was a playoff atmosphere-type game,” said Thornton head coach Chris Kohl. “It was a good tune-up. We’re going to be playing on Friday. They got a great shot and a great goal. We had some opportunities. I think last year it was 1-0 and we had one opportunity in the game; we just didn’t play well. This year, we just played a great game.”

Early on, the Rams looked to take an early lead. But Trojan goalie Elizabeth Sawyer was up to the task. She turned away a shot just eight seconds into the game and another a few minutes later. She finished with nine saves but none bigger than a one-handed diving save early in the first half.

“She did a great job,” Kohl said of Sawyer. “This is her fourth or fifth start in goal for us. Our starting keeper broke her arm. Sawyer just played a great game; she was very solid. Every game she gets more and more confident back there and that’s all we can ask. She had a tremendous game today.”

Thornton had several chances of their own early on in the contest. But their best chance came in the ninth minute. They managed to get in behind the Ram defense. The shot evaded goalkeeper Nicole Belhumeur, but deflected off the post.

The Rams rang one off the post midway through the first half as both teams struggled to break the stalemate.

“We needed to play a little quicker,” said Gorham head coach Jeanne Zarrilli. “I thought we, for the most part, had the run of the possession. We wanted to maintain possession but play a little quicker because they were challenging everything we had. So we couldn’t hang on to the ball. We were hanging on a little too long in the first half.”

At the break there was still no score.

Wilson finally broke the scoreless tie just four minutes into the second half. Rachele Burns got the ball to her in front of the net. Wilson let loose a shot from about 20 yards out that found the corner of the net.

“Lindsay held her line really well,” Zarrilli said. “They were playing a flat back, so you have to be careful. We never got called offside, which is huge for us not to have that happen. I actually thought she was going to take a couple of touches to go in because she had space. But better to take one touch and shoot because that’s what we were doing too much of in the first half. If she had taken a couple of touches she would have been swarmed. It was a great shot.”

Over the final 35 minutes, the Trojans tried in vain to tie the score while the Rams tried unsuccessfully to add to their lead. Both teams had chances but neither could get one through. Ten minutes after Wilson’s goal, the Rams had a great chance when Sawyer dove to stop a shot, but the ball squirted away. The shot on the second opportunity was wide.

Eventually the time just ran out and Gorham picked up the 1-0 win. They will enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in their quest for a fifth straight state championship. Thornton Academy will wait to see where they fall in the Heal Points, but they will be in the playoffs as well.

“You’re trying to build some momentum and I think this game even, though we lost, was definitely a momentum builder,” Kohl said. “There are games you win and you think ‘that doesn’t look too good.’ This looked really good and we just need to use that on Friday. Our confidence should definitely be back, so we’ll be ready.”