Scarborough girls soccer coach Mike Farley may want to give his halftime speech 40 minutes earlier.
With four second half goals, the Red Storm defeated Marshwood, 5-1, Monday in South Berwick, but the sluggish first half had their coach concerned.
“There’s going to come a time when we can’t give away those first 40 minutes,” Farley said. “We were lucky at halftime we weren’t down a goal. (Marshwood) had better chances. We were lucky to finish our one chance.”
Amanda Daudelin put Scarborough ahead, 1-0, when she tipped in a cross from Reegan Brackett in the game’s 20th minute.
Scarborough (7-1) allowed the Hawks numerous opportunities to tie the score by halftime.
“We let No. 8 (Elise Amioka), who is a very dangerous player, free on top of the box once,” Farley said. “That one where No. 14 (Erin Augulewicz) walked in could have been a goal too. We’re lucky she didn’t make us pay for that.
“In the beginning it looked like we were stuck in mud,” Farley said.
After halftime the Red Storm looked like a different team.
Lexi Udeh put in a loose ball following a corner less than four minutes into the half, putting Scarborough up, 2-0.
Caitlin Leborgne and Alex Laniewski each added long-range goals in the 46th and 53rd minutes respectively.
Following a breakaway goal by Amioka for Marshwood (2-5-1), Daudelin scored her second of the game, a 30-yard, left-footed shot that went high over Hawks’ goalie Savannah Lodge-Scharff.
“Lately we are just coming out dead in the first half,” Daudelin said. “We don’t have any momentum going. In the second half we get the ball and something happens to us. We come out with a lot of spunk in the second half.”
Scarborough has been held scoreless in the first half three times this season. Against Thornton and Deering, they managed to be victorious with strong second-half play. Against Gorham the result was an overtime loss.
According to Farley, Scarborough’s assertiveness was the main difference in the second half against Marshwood.
“When we were 35 yards and in we were actually going to goal,” he said. “We were thinking about shooting, attacking players and hitting the ball at the goal. When we do that we can be very dangerous. We can score goals in bunches.”
Scarborough did just that last Tuesday against Windham (3-3-2), defeating the Eagles, 4-0, and dominating possession throughout the game.
“That’s what we can do when we play for 80 minutes” Farley said. “Windham is a very good team. We did a good job of putting them away early.”
Kate Pemberton had two goals while Mary Ledoux and Reegan Brackett had one each against the Eagles. Windham handed Scarborough its only regular-season loss last season.
Scarborough was scheduled to face undefeated Sanford (8-0) Wednesday night at home. (Check our website at www.keepmecurrent.com for the game story.)
“It’s going to be very tough,” Farley said. “We scrimmaged Sanford in the preseason and they beat us. They have a lot of seniors and a lot of good experience. I hope we show up and play 80 minutes. If we do anything can happen.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
