Deja vu all over again…Cheverus beats Scarborough in OT

Cheverus sophomore Madeline Fowler and Scarborough senior Avni Bhatnagar battle for possession during the Stags’ 3-2 overtime win Wednesday.

PORTLAND—The sequel was even better than the original.

At least from Cheverus’ perspective.

Wednesday afternoon, in another showdown between the Stags and Scarborough, two of the best Class A South field hockey teams of recent vintage, history repeated itself.

Right down to the fantastic finish.

For the second time in 14 days, Cheverus grabbed a 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from sophomore Taylor Tory and senior Madisyn Durgin, but once again, the Red Storm responded in the second half and thanks to the first two varsity goals of junior Maya Sellinger’s career, pulled even and forced overtime.

After an unexpected source, freshman Lily Johnson, produced the overtime game-winner for the Stags two weeks ago, this time around, it was the best known player on the field, senior Lucia Pompeo, doing the honors, finishing with 5:48 to go in the first OT session to give Cheverus a 3-2 victory.

The Stags improved to 4-1, dropped the Red Storm 2-2 and in the process, beat their longtime tormentor in overtime for the third consecutive meeting dating to last season.

“I guess we just like routine,” said Pompeo. “It’s the same thing every time with (Scarborough). They’re a great team. It makes it hard. We got in a little bit of a lull and they took advantage.”

Fast improvement in short time

In the teams’ first meeting, Oct. 1 in Scarborough, the Stags dominated play for over 56 minutes, but Scarborough roared back late in regulation, as junior Lili Stone scored a pair of goals to force overtime. There, after one scoreless session, Johnson converted for Cheverus to produce a 3-2 victory.

Scarborough started with that loss to Cheverus to open the season, then bounced back and defeated host South Portland, 3-0, and won Friday at Falmouth, 3-0.

Cheverus started by dominating visiting South Portland, 10-0, then won dramatically at Scarborough, before blanking visiting Falmouth (5-0). Friday, the Stags suffered their first setback, 1-0, at Gorham.

Despite the teams’ result two weeks ago, Scarborough still held a 15-5 all-time advantage, with one tie (see below, for previous results).

Wednesday, on a picture-perfect mid-October afternoon (68 degrees at the start), two talented teams once again needed more than 60 minutes to determine a winner.

Pompeo nearly set up a goal in the game’s second minute, when she fed senior Grace Foster for a good look, but the shot rolled just wide.

With 7:45 left in the first period, the Stags got the jump, as Johnson crossed the ball to Tory, whose shot eluded Red Storm junior goalie Katie Roy for a 1-0 lead.

Tory nearly doubled the advantage later in the quarter, but missed just wide off a penalty corner.

Early in the second period, sophomore Isabella Cloutier had a pair of looks off penalty corners, but her first was saved by a Scarborough defender and the second barely missed the mark.

After a long Johnson shot was deflected on target and saved by Roy, Cheverus doubled its lead with 1:15 to go before halftime.

Off a penalty corner, Tory fed the ball to Durgin up top and her blast eluded Roy and found the cage to make it 2-0.

The Stags dominated play in the first 30 minutes, out-shooting the Red Storm, 5-0, while taking six corners (and converting on one) to none for the visitors.

Cheverus had a great chance to put the game away midway through the third quarter when it earned four straight corners, but the Stags couldn’t even manage a single shot.

“It was frustrating when we couldn’t connect on the corners, but we knew we couldn’t get down and we had to keep going,” Pompeo said.

Momentum then turned.

Scarborough finally got its offense going and after a rush by senior Bella Turner was broken up, Sellinger scored her first varsity goal with 7:33 remaining in the frame, as she perfectly timed a cross from junior Erin Bresnahan and sent it past Cheverus senior goalie Emily Factor to cut the deficit to 2-1.

It was the Red Storm’s first shot on cage of the game.

Scarborough quickly tied it up with 3:11 left in the third, on a nearly identical goal. The only difference is that it came off a penalty corner, as sophomore Daisy Stone inserted the ball to Bresnahan, who crossed it in front to Sellinger, who knocked it into the cage to make it 2-2.

“That’s another new, first-time varsity goal scorer,” said Red Storm coach Kerry Mariello. “She’s actually new to field hockey. It’s her second year. Those were very pretty goals.”

Each team would have chances in the fourth period, but couldn’t break the deadlock.

First, Johnson missed wide for the Stags.

Scarborough junior Lillian Finley then sent a shot into the circle, but it deflected just wide.

With just over five minutes left in regulation, a Red Storm shot off a corner hit the the side of the cage.

That proved to be Scarborough’s last scoring chance.

Cheverus earned one final opportunity with 30 seconds to play, but it was broken up and the game went to overtime.

While the teams’ last two meetings needed the second of two eight-minute overtime sessions to decide, only one was needed Wednesday.

The Stags controlled play from the start and Johnson had a chance to play the hero again 90 seconds in, but she shot wide.

Cheverus then won the ball back and ended it.

Cheverus senior Lucia Pompeo makes a move past a Scarborough en route to scoring the winning goal in overtime of the Stags’ 3-2 victory Wednesday.

Sophomore MingGe Daley took the ball away and passed it to Pompeo. Pompeo then turned the corner on a defender, went one-on-one with Roy and wouldn’t be denied, blasting a shot into the cage for the 3-2 victory.

“MingGe stepped to the ball, passed it to me and I tried to split the two defenders,” Pompeo said. “Nothing fancy, just try to get it through. I picked my head up for a second because my coaches keep telling me I have to pick my head up. I saw the goalie come straight at me, so I knew shooting strong-side would be easiest. It’s a great feeling. Never gets old.”

“Lucia has so much confidence and we have so much confidence in her,” said Stags coach Theresa Hendrix. “She loves to be in those situations. You can see the fun she has out there. MingGe came up strong and got the ball up to her.

“I think they wanted it to happen that way, I don’t know. We always know what’s coming with Scarborough. I talked to the girls and said, ‘How are you going to respond?’ Scarborough scored two and kept the pressure on, but the girls held on and rallied together. These girls have so much potential. We’ve worked on putting all the pieces together as fast as possible. In overtime, we really came together. Even the girls on the sidelines picked each other up. We’re excited to get to play Scarborough twice. You can’t ask for better competition.”

Cheverus finished with a 6-2 edge in shots on cage and had a 12-2 advantage in corners.

Scarborough got three saves from Roy and once again put forth a valiant effort, all for naught.

“Could we write it any differently?” Mariello said. “It was a very similar game to last time. It was a nice comeback. A lot of those Cheverus players have had a lot of varsity minutes, starting freshman year, and it shows. They can capitalize on those moments. (Lucia’s) a very experienced player who knows what to do. That’s a tough situation. She loves to carry the weight on her shoulders. She thrives on big moments and that’s why she’s so successful.

“It’s a learning experience for us. You don’t want to lose, but I’ll take that we fought until the end. It’s unfortunate we fell down early, but we showed more life on defense. We tried to wear them out refueling with our younger kids and their quality players had to play a lot.”

Winding down

With just a couple weeks remaining in the season, each squad plans to make the most of the games it has left.

Scarborough welcomes Portland/Deering Friday, then plays at Greely and hosts South Portland next week. The Red Storm also have games left at home versus Greely and Gorham.

“We’ll keep plugging away,” Mariello said. “It’s a great season to have a young team. There’s no pressure. There’s no seeds, no tournament. Just growth and development and being together and having fun. It’s a great experience and next year will be great for us.”

Cheverus, meanwhile, is at Westbrook Tuesday, hosts Greely in a first-ever countable meeting between the schools Oct. 24, then closes at South Portland Oct. 28.

“We have positive energy,” Pompeo said. “The whole group. We have a good time every practice. We love playing together. We just want to have a great season. It’s our last one. We’re just lucky to be here, honestly, and we’re happy to be out there.”

“We just want the girls to get the most out of this, both field hockey-wise and for it to be a joy in their life,” Hendrix said.