Girls soccer
Scarborough 4
Windham 0
Windham fell to Scarborough, 4-0, Tuesday, as the Eagles were unable to find an answer to their opponents speed and superior midfield play.
With Scarborough winning 50-50 balls and pressuring the Windham defense early, coach Wally LeBlanc made an adjustment.
He switched his defense to an offside trap and it worked – at first.
Scarborough’s offense was whistled for numerous offsides just beyond midfield, but with 24 minutes remaining in the half Kate Pemberton played a through-ball to Amanda Daudelin who scored past Windham keeper Riley Graves.
“They got a good through-ball and an uncontested goal,” LeBlanc said. “I have to take the ownership for that. I am the one that went to the flat back four and tried to take their rhythm away. They caught us on that.”
Scarborough would add three more goals. One late the first half by Mary Ledoux and another by Reegan Bracket with 22 minutes remaining in the game.
Pemberton got a goal of her own with 5:12 to play, with the game being played in what had become a steady rain.
While the contest was back-and-forth Windham was seldom able to test Scarborough goalie Brittany Kane.
“They had a lot of speed in the back and there was nothing we could do about it really,” said Taylor Graves, Windham’s leading scorer on the season. “We tried to play through-balls but nothing happened for us.”
Scarborough’s sweeper was consistently able to win 50-50 balls, handcuffing Windham’s offense.
“I was trying to put someone right on the sweeper,” LeBlanc said. “If we are going to play that way we have to be first and win the 50-50 ball. We weren’t winning the 50-50 ball.”
Ultimately, LeBlanc felt as if the game came down to the play of the midfield.
“I think Scarborough does a much better job winning the midfield balls,” he said. “We are trying to figure out how to work our midfield. It’s an area we’ve been struggling with a little bit.”
Leblanc highlighted Jess Taylor and Kristen Stewart as two players who played a strong game for Windham.
Regardless of Tuesday night’s result, the coach is happy with where his team is at this point in the season. Windham’s only two loses have come at the hands of two of the top teams in the conference, Scarborough (6-1) and Gorham (6-0).
“I am pleased,” LeBlanc said. “I think we are right where I expected us to be. I think we are a good team but we aren’t ready to challenge the Scarboroughs and the Gorhams. We just aren’t there yet.
“The whole idea though is to be there at the end of the season. The end of the season is a whole different story.”
Windham will try to rebound on the road tonight against McAuley (1-4-1).
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