KENNEBUNK — Freshman midfielder Emily Archibald scored with 5:31 remaining to give second-seeded Kennebunk a 1-0 victory over third-seeded Marshwood in a Class A South girls’ soccer semifinal Saturday.
Archibald brought the ball up the right side and beat two Marshwood defenders, breaking in alone on keeper Nathalie Clavette. Archibald jabbed right and, while falling down, fired a shot to the left side for the goal.
“(Archibald) is just a gifted athlete for sure. She’s taken everything in like a sponge and she’s a pleasure to coach,” said Kennebunk Coach Shannon Cavanaugh, whose team will face top-seeded Scarborough in the regional final at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Archibald nearly put Kennebunk (12-3-1) in front late in the first half when she broke free and created a one-on-one opportunity with Clavette, who made a terrific diving save to her left.
“I definitely had to let that go. It was a great opportunity, but a great save by the keeper, but I’ve tried to let things go lately, so that’s what I tried to do there,” said Archibald.
Clavette finished with six saves.””
“Between our keeper and two of our sweepers, they’re all juniors, so they do a really good job of communicating with each other,” said Marshwood Coach Chelsea Watson. “They’re all fast, so that usually can bail us out of situations. They just (ran out of) gas … . They run all game, so I can’t imagine … I would be out of gas, too.”
Kennebunk avenged a 3-2 loss to Marshwood early in the season. The Rams learned some lessons from that defeat.
“We were definitely worried about the offside trap,” said Cavanaugh. “The first time we played (Marshwood), we probably had close to 12, maybe 15 – that might be hyperbole, but it felt like (a lot of) offside calls against (us). So we tried to have Emily (Archibald) check in and then Lydia Howarth, our other forward, run some face-cut runs so that we weren’t getting burned,” said Cavanaugh.
Marshwood (12-3-1) had a good chance with just over 11 minutes remaining in the first half. Off a corner kick, a header by sophomore Casey Perry was denied by Rams keeper Adia Grogan.
“We had plenty of chances. We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” said Watson.
Grogan made five saves for the shutout.
“Adia (Grogan) was incredible for us,” said Cavanaugh. “Having her in net definitely helps (the) nerves.”
Marshwood had a 5-1 edge in corner kicks in the first half, but the Rams turned things around in the second half, producing a 6-2 edge in corner kicks.
“I think the team that has been there all season didn’t show up today, and that’s really, really unfortunate … to go out the way we did,” said Watson. “Kennebunk is a great team. We knew coming in that this was going to be a dogfight. We were pretty exhausted pretty early, and we just didn’t have much fight left in us.”
Now Kennebunk takes on an undefeated Scarborough team that defeated the Rams 6-0 during the regular season.
“We know (Scarborough is) a tough team, but we’re just going to play our game and give it all we have,” said Archibald.
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