LEWISTON — Lucy Bogdanovich scored three goals to lead second-seeded Scarborough to a 5-1 victory against third-ranked Cape Elizabeth/South Portland/Waynflete in a South Division girls’ hockey semifinal Friday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
The Red Storm will play York/Traip Academy or Falmouth – who meet Saturday night at Falmouth – for the regional title Wednesday at the Colisee. The time hasn’t been determined.
Scarborough, the defending regional champion, dominated while beating the Capers for the third time this season.
In the regular season, the Red Storm (14-4-1) posted two one-goal victories over the Capers (10-10) – 2-1 at Troubh Arena in Portland and 4-3 at the Colisee.
“When playoff season comes the girls just turn it up a notch,” Scarborough Coach Caitlin D’Amour said. “They just came ready to go. We just wanted to get this game under our belt and continue to move forward. They don’t want this season to end yet.”
“Our lines just played well together,” Bogdanovich said. “We finally clicked. All of our lines are coming together and that was basically the key.”
The Capers had a difficult time stringing passes together.
“Scarborough has always been a team to beat for us, so I think there was a tiny bit of intimidation factor,” Cape Coach Bob Mills said. “We talked to our players about their aggressiveness on the forecheck and what we needed to do to counteract that. We just couldn’t quite get it done tonight.”
The Red Storm continually applied pressure in the first period when they enjoyed a 12-2 edge in shots.
It paid off when Bogdanovich put in a one-timer from between the hashmarks with 1:37 left for her first goal.
Scarborough took firm control in the second period when it held a 15-0 edge in shots and moved into a 4-0 lead.
Five minutes in, Bogdanovich’s rising shot from the left circle nicked the crossbar before settling into the netting inside the far post.
Less than four minutes later, she completed her hat trick with a shot from the slot.
With less than three minutes left in the second period, Logan Bruns put in a wide-angled shot from the left side of the goal after taking the puck from a defender.
Cape goalie Abby Joy turned in a valiant effort to keep her team relatively close. She made 37 saves.
“She’s been our best player for most of the season,” Mills said. “The game could have been a lot worse, obviously, if she wasn’t in net for us tonight.”
Less than three minutes into the third period, Taylor Veilleux put in a shot from the slot for a 5-0 lead.
With less than seven minutes left, Eliza Connolly slipped a backhander into the right side of the goal after going end-to-end to spoil the Red Storm’s bid for their seventh shutout of the season.
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