SOUTH PORTLAND – Not allowing a goal in a game is a good result for any field hockey team. Not allowing a single shot, even better.
That’s exactly what Scarborough did Monday, scoring on its own first shot, controlling possession and allowing South Portland little time and space in a 4-0 road win to improve to a perfect 7-0 on the season. It was the second straight game in which the Red Storm didn’t allow a shot on goal after beating defending Western Maine Class A champs Marshwood 1-0 Saturday, and Scarborough hasn’t conceded a goal in its first 490 minutes of play this fall.
Coach Kerry Mariello, as you would expect, is pretty happy with that stat.
“Not that I’m counting statistics or anything but it definitely is a huge factor in the style of play we have where defense is the key,” Mariello said. “That’s what’s going to win the games for us. 1-0 or 4-0, it doesn’t matter, a win is a win no matter the score.”
After scoring on its first shot against the Hawks Saturday, Scarborough repeated the feat against the Red Riots when Katie Granzier was able to get her stick on the ball in a scramble in front of the net just two minutes in.
Three minutes later, Maddie Dobecki scored from a corner to make it 2-0, and the Red Storm were off and running.
“It’s a momentum boost for sure. It’s always nice to get a team on their heals and having to play a catch up scenario,” Mariello said. “Jumping the gun is always nice.”
The run of play continued much in the same way as the game went on, with Scarborough continually winning 50-50 balls and effectively stopping South Portland’s few incursions into their defensive half. Dobecki, one of the Storm’s better defenders in the midfield, said the team’s stinginess on the score sheet comes from a total team commitment to hustle back.
“Our defense is really powerful, we have really strong hits and our mids and forwards cover back, so our defense is really strong because we have our whole team covering,” she said. “It feels so good – our defense is so strong that no team can score against us.”
The game remained at 2-0 into the dying minutes of the first half, until Scarborough’s Sarah Huber scored off another penalty corner at the 28:11 mark. Dobecki said that the team had been working on perfecting the passing and movement of the set piece throughout the early part of the season, and her coach was happy with the results Monday.
“You’re definitely at an advantage and you should capitalize on those, and to be able to do that is a huge thing,” Mariello said.
Though Dobecki would get the Red Storm’s fourth goal three minutes into the second half, the final 30 minutes of the game were much more even as South Portland came into the game and shut down passing lanes in their defensive half.
South Portland keeper Lani Edwards made 10 stops in net and has stopped 63 shots in total in the Riots’ first seven games, and as the leader of a young defense has been coach Leslie Dyer’s rock in the early going.
“She gives us a voice in the back and she’s really, really vocal on whose open, where to go, who should bump,” Dyer said. “She’s definitely one of our top players, one of my captains, the girls look up to her and she’s just a really smart and athletic player.”
In her second year with the program, Dyer’s goal this season is to continue to build the South Portland program from the ground up. Though Monday was a loss, it wasn’t necessarily a setback, and the coach was both happy her team’s improved performance in the second half and this year in general as the Riots have already matched their win total of two from last fall.
“We knew it was a hard game going in, and our best effort was to keep the goals down as much as we can,” Dyer said. “We went back to basics and making them make the first move, which is what we started doing more in the second half. We caught on to some of their moves and stepped it up.
“Last year the score (against Scarborough) was 9-0, this year the score was 4-0, so absolutely there’s improvement from last year to this year. We’re building up our team and our program every game.”
South Portland midfielder Jaclyn Salevsky, center, and Scarborough midfielder Maddie Dobecki contest for the ball in the midfield during the second half. Dobecki scored two goals as the Red Storm beat the Red Riots 4-0.
Scarborough midfielder Karli-An Gilbert tries to split South Portland defenders Danielle Gergner, left, and Kirsten King in the first half.
Scarborough forward Ellen Walker fires a shot as South Portland defender Olivia Indorf steps up to block it.
Scarborough forward Emily Buntin slides a pass into the South Portland box early in the first half.
Scarborough forward Katie Granzier turns to run with the ball inside the South Portland half early in the first half Monday.
South Portland midfielder Maddie Hasson looks for a way through the Scarborough defense in the second half.
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