HAMPDEN — They trailed at halftime, which, if you have followed these Windham High players, is no big deal.
Windham kept on pressuring and broke through in a big way Saturday, scoring five second-half goals to beat Edward Little 5-1 for the Class A girls’ soccer state championship.
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It was the second straight state title for the Eagles (17-0-1), who stretched their unbeaten streak to 36 games.
The Red Eddies (13-2-3) led 1-0 at halftime, but that was familiar territory for the Eagles. Windham trailed at halftime in all three of its game in the Western Maine tournament.
“It felt very familiar,” said Ciera Berthiaume. “We’ve been getting down every game and we’ve come back and stayed strong as a team. That’s what really counts when you’re playing in a game like this.”
Berthiaume tied it, then Melissa Morton put it away with a hat trick – three goals in 8½ minutes. Jenna Soucy boomed in a free kick for the final goal.
“I don’t know why it’s happened every playoff game,” Morton said of the early deficit. “We’re very used to it and we come back every time.”
Eagles Coach Deb Lebel knew that. And she kept telling herself her players would rally again.
“I was just hoping it would be a little earlier,” Lebel said. “I wasn’t too nervous. But for some reason they like to give you a good show.”
The tension began when Edward Little’s Olivia Paione kicked in the game’s first goal, 6:30 into the contest.
“My team showed up,” Edward Little Coach Craig Latuscha said. “We have a lot of heart. (Windham has) a great team.”
Eddies goalkeeper Molly Murray helped maintain the lead with six saves in the first half, when Windham held a 13-4 advantage in shots.
“I give them a lot of credit,” Lebel said. “They were physical. They never gave up on a ball. And they played a sweeper real deep. So defensively we had to serve our balls perfectly.”
In the second half, the Eagles kept on attacking. Berthiaume made a slick move past her defender and fired, but Murray knocked it out.
“I got bummed about that but I knew we would get our chances to score again,” Berthiaume said. “We were connecting passes. Their defense was really spread out. We knew if we kept with tight, small passes, we would eventually get a shot to go in.”
Only minutes later, Berthiaume got another chance and scored on a high shot at 6:15 for a 1-1 tie.
“Then it just started flowing once we got our confidence up,” Morton said. “We realized that this is what we need to do.”
Morton was on the receiving end of some superb passes – finishing feeds from Cassie Symonds at 8:14 for a 2-1 lead, then from Berthiaume (15:33) and Symonds again (16:35) to make it 4-1.
“(Morton) is scrappy and she just gets her foot in there,” Lebel said. “That’s Melissa’s specialty. She’s got a nose for the ball, and tonight it counted.”
Soucy’s free kick from 27 yards sealed it at 25:49. Edward Little tried to come back, but goalkeeper Elizabeth Mycock nullified any chances.
“This is a special team,” Lebel said. “They know how to dig deep.”
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