Portland was considered to be one of the top threats to the top-ranked Scarborough boys soccer team, but at Fitzpatrick Stadium Monday the Red Storm demonstrated why the team remains undefeated.
Led by Trevor Hoxsie, who scored twice, Scarborough dominated the game on offense, defeating fourth-ranked Portland 5-2.
“We just played well (Monday),” said Scarborough head coach Mark Diaz. “I thought we moved the ball well today early. We didn’t give them a chance to get set, and we did a good job on (Fazalhaq) Nabi, and I was really happy with that.”
It took a little while for Scarborough to get the first goal, but it wasn’t due to a lack of opportunities. After 7 minutes of play, a shot went wide, and another shot missed the net by inches a little more than 18 minutes into the game.
Shortly after the second near miss, James Soules got control of the ball in the Portland end. He dribbled his way around a series of Portland defenders to get inside the six-yard box. He moved the ball across to Hoxsie who snuck it under Portland keeper Will White for a 1-0 Scarborough advantage.
A few minutes later, Red Storm junior Buddy Reid gained control of the ball near midfield. Reid worked his way past Portland defenders up the middle of the field. As he got inside the box, Reid let loose a shot that evaded White’s jump and found the net just inside the post and cross bar.
“I’m just happy we finished better today,” said Diaz. “We’ve had some opportunities in the last couple of games, and we haven’t been putting it away. Today we had guys in better spots, which we’ve been working on, and we got to some rebounds and that was huge for us.”
James Rouse gave Scarborough a 3-0 lead shortly before halftime. Ian Ramsdell brought the ball into the box and sent a crossing pass in front of the net. White dove at it to knock it away, but the ball went right back to Rouse, who kicked it into the net with just one minute to go in the half.
Hoxsie tallied his second goal of the game just 2:16 into the second half. He took the ball inside Portland territory and ran by everyone. He made one last move to get by the Portland sweeper before knocking a shot past White’s dive.
“We had some nice goals,” Diaz said. “We moved the ball well today; we really did. And, when we got into the spots, we put it away. It felt good to do that.”
Scarborough’s final goal of the game came in after 53 minutes of play. Ian Philbrick got behind the Portland defense and had a great chance to score. But White moved up in the box to challenge the shot and ended up tripping Philbrick instead. Philbrick was given a penalty kick and knocked it into the lower left side of the net.
Portland managed to score two goals in the game’s final 15 minutes after Scarborough brought in backup keeper Tennessee Peters. Peter Olafsen scored the first Bulldogs goal after Peters dove in an attempt to break up the play and left the net open. Nabi scored Portland’s second goal on a long shot from the top of the box. The two goals were just the third and fourth goals allowed by Scarborough through 12 games.
The Red Storm improved to 12-0 with the win and was scheduled to face South Portland Tuesday and finish their regular season Friday at Deering. Expected to be the No. 1 seed, the Storm will likely have home field advantage through the playoffs.
“If we win out, I don’t think (second-ranked Greely) can catch us,” said Diaz. “But if they beat Cape you never know. If they win out, you never know. We’ve got a big enough lead that I think we’ll finish No. 1, but we have to win out.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
