CAPE ELIZABETH — Cape Elizabeth senior forward Prezli Piscopo wasn’t expecting her hard kick from 25 yards to break up a scoreless deadlock late in the Class B South girls’ soccer final Wednesday against York, but that’s exactly what happened.
Piscopo’s goal with 8 minutes, 17 seconds remaining, followed by an assist on a goal by Karli Chapin, lifted the top-seeded Capers to a 2-0 win and a berth in the state final Saturday in Hampden against Presque Isle.
“She’s good at making something out of nothing,” Cape Elizabeth Coach Graham Forsyth said of Piscopo. “She’s got star quality. We joked, why couldn’t she have done that in the first (70) minutes?”
York keeper Jackie Tabora, a forward who changed positions late in the regular season after Lily Brodsky suffered a concussion, came up with several big saves to keep the game scoreless for nearly 72 minutes. Tabora finished with nine saves.
“When Lily went out … Jackie said, ‘I’ll do it coach.’ She’s been fantastic. She’s our third leading scorer,” said York Coach Wally Caldwell.
“She had some experience in goal when she was a freshman. But she just came in and played our three playoff games. That (winning) shot, Jackie was in position. That ball was just hit with some real power.”
The Capers (17-0) had only two shots on goal in the first 31 minutes of the second half, when a cross from the right side found Piscopo all alone at the 25. She turned slightly and drilled it a shot toward the goal, where it landed in the far left corner.
“I wasn’t expecting it. But before their defenders got on me, I just wanted to put a hard shot on goal and put it somewhere,” said Piscopo.
With 1:24 remaining, Piscopo ended up with possession after a skirmish in front of the net. She passed to Chapin, who slid the ball into the goal.
Freshman keeper Elise Branch turned away two shots.
York, the No. 3 seed, finished 12-4-1.
“We were talking about (the possibility of going to) PKs,” Forsyth said about the first scoreless 70 minutes. “But we have a style of play. We trust the girls. They had great chances. We just told them to stay with it.”
Deirdre Fleming can be reached at 791-6452 or:
dfleming@pressherald.com
Twitter: FlemingPph
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