Cape Elizabeth beats Hermon to win Class B again

WATERBORO—Maggie Cochran and Emily Supple are the best of friends.

And they’re also two of the best things that have happened to Cape Elizabeth’s girls’ soccer program in a long, long time.

Saturday afternoon on the stadium field at Massabesic High School, the dynamic senior tandem combined to score all three goals as the Capers beat Hermon, 3-0, to win the Class B state championship.

Yet again.

Supple put Cape Elizabeth ahead to stay less than four minutes into the contest when she converted a penalty kick.

Cochran, who scored three times in a state game win over Hermon in 2019, then scored the final goal of her transcendent high school career with just over 15 minutes to go in the first half for a 2-0 advantage.

While the Hawks played hard throughout and had some chances, they couldn’t solve the Capers defense or senior goalkeeper Elise Branch and when Supple scored again, from junior Piper Duryee with 18 minutes to go, the celebration began.

Cape Elizabeth put the clamps on Hermon from there and closed out a most impressive 3-0 victory.

The Capers finished the season on an eight-game win streak, wound up with a record of 17-1, ended the Hawks’ campaign at 17-1 and most importantly, won Class B for the third consecutive postseason and captured the program’s ninth all-time championship.

“To play with my best friend, my favorite person in the world to play with, and win it and end on such a good note is just unreal,” Supple said.

“It’s just the best feeling in the world,” said Cochran. “Even better to do it with all of our friends and especially with my best friend here. This is what we wanted. It’s amazing.”

“Rightfully so, (Maggie and Emily) get the attention,” added Cape Elizabeth coach Graham Forsyth. “I may have players that special again, but not on the same team at the same time. They’re special and they have a tremendous supporting cast. There’s some unsung heroes. There was a lot of work into getting here. There were tears, but at the end of the day, this outcome is what it was all for and we’re thrilled.”

A celebration delayed

Cape Elizabeth would have been the favorite to win a third straight championship in 2020, had there been a postseason, but the COVID pandemic only allowed the Capers to play seven regular season games before the campaign came to an abrupt end.

“We wish we got that one last year too, but what can you do?” Cochran said.

“We missed out last year,” Forsyth said. “I think we would have been there and won it. We were really good.”

This season, Cape Elizabeth got off to a fast start, then got a gift in the form of a loss/wakeup call to a rival before putting it all together late to produce another title run.

The Capers started with a 2-0 victory at Yarmouth, then defeated visiting Wells, 3-1, blanked visiting Greely (3-0), host York (1-0), host Freeport (2-0) and visiting Waynflete (6-0) before conceding a goal in a 9-1 win at Lake Region. Cape Elizabeth then blanked host Poland (10-0) and visiting Fryeburg Academy (13-0) before letting a two-goal lead slip away in a shocking 3-2 home loss to Yarmouth, which ended a 32-game win streak. The Capers regrouped and closed by shutting out host Greely (4-0), host Gray-New Gloucester (5-0), visiting York (1-0) and visiting Freeport (4-0).

After earning a bye, Cape Elizabeth ousted No. 8 Greely (5-0) in the quarterfinals (Supple had three goals), then beat No. 5 York (4-1) in the semifinal round, as Cochran scored three times, before blanking second-seeded Yarmouth, 3-0, Wednesday in the regional final behind three goals from Supple.

Hermon, meanwhile, rolled through its regular season schedule with 14 consecutive victories, with a 3-1 win over Presque Isle the closest contest.

As the top-ranked team in Class B North, the Hawks dispatched No. 8 Nokomis (12-0), No. 12 Oceanside (6-0) and finally No. 10 Mt. Desert Island (6-0).

Hermon entered play Saturday having scored 104 goals on the season and blanking 11 of 17 foes.

The teams met in the 2019 Class B state final, where Cochran paced Cape Elizabeth to a 4-0 victory.

Hermon entered the game 0-4 in the state final, losing to Windham (3-0) in 1994, to Falmouth (2-1) in 2012, to Greely (6-0) in 2015 and to the Capers two years ago.

Cape Elizabeth, meanwhile, was 8-2 (see sidebar, below, for previous state game results and links to stories).

Saturday, on a sunny but chilly afternoon (52 degrees, dropping to 46 by game’s end), the Capers started fast and didn’t look back.

Thanks to two of the finest players in the state.

Regardless of class.

The Hawks got a decent chance in the second minute, but Branch, a four-year starter, beat senior Emily Treat to senior Sydney Gallop’s cross.

After Cochran had the ball knocked away in the box, Cape Elizabeth earned a corner kick, but Hermon cleared the ball away.

Then, with 36:17 left in the first half, after Supple crossed the ball into the box, Capers senior Penny Haydar was brought down and after play was stopped, Supple was chosen to take the ensuing penalty kick.

“We hadn’t really planned anything for (PKs), but Penny looked at me and goes, ‘You’re taking it,’ so I just stepped up and took it,” Supple said.

“We’ve worked on PKs lately because you have to prepare for them in playoffs,” Forsyth said. “Emily was the most comfortable and confident in practice. It was a no-brainer today to have her take it.”

Supple then fired a low shot to the left of Hermon sophomore goalkeeper Bella Bowden and sent the ball into the net for a quick 1-0 lead.

“I always kind of position my body as if I’m going left, then go right,” Supple said. “I knew I hit it well. It was definitely important to get that first goal. It kept us going and gave us motivation.”

“I’m confident in Emily,” Cochran said. “We were practicing PKs the other day because you never know. As soon as she stepped up, I knew she had it.”

“We always go into games aiming to get a lead within five minutes and if that doesn’t happen, we don’t like it,” Forsyth added. “We did it tonight. To start like that in a state game with emotions running high was the best thing we could have hoped for.”

The Hawks hoped to answer, but a long free kick from senior Madison Higgins was saved by Branch.

In the 10th minute, Supple nearly doubled the lead, as she took a feed from senior Caroline Gentile and beat Bowden, but the ball rang off the far post and after Supple ran down the rebound, she sent the ball just over the crossbar.

Branch then had to come out at the last minute to break up a feed from junior Lyndsee Reed to Gallop.

After Supple missed just wide and a long shot from Duryee was bobbled and saved by Bowden, Hermon got two promising chances, but junior Michaela Saulter had a shot saved by Branch and after Gallop set up Reed for an apparent breakaway chance with Branch out of the play, Reed couldn’t turn and shoot before the defense recovered and ended the threat.

With 15:27 remaining in the first half, Cape Elizabeth doubled its lead, as freshman C.C. Duryee sent the ball in, Hermon’s defense failed to clear it cleanly and it came to feet of Cochran, a sheer nightmare from the Hawks perspective, and Cochran finished with her left foot for a 2-0 lead.

“C.C. worked really hard to get on the ball and I was lucky that it landed in front of me and all I had to do was finish,” Cochran said. “It never gets old to score in a state game.”

Cochran has been battling a quad injury for much of the season, but has gutted her way through and was rewarded.

“Maggie wasn’t going to be contained today,” Forsyth said. “She had a few chances, but the goal was a very special end to her high school career. Her right quad only got better two weeks ago and even then, she’s been playing hurt. She’s not 100 percent.”

Late in the half, Bowden robbed Cochran with a leaping one-handed save on a shot from the side, C.C. Duryee had a shot blocked and a rebound bid from Piper Duryee was saved by Bowden and with 3:23 to go, Supple floated a shot that hit the crossbar, keeping the score 2-0 at the break.

The Capers had an 8-2 shots advantage in the first half, but hadn’t put the win away.

That would happen in the second half.

The Hawks had the first chance after halftime, but a shot from Reed was saved by Branch.

Cape Elizabeth then was frustrated, as C.C. Duryee took a pass from Cochran and was denied on the doorstep by Bowden, Piper Duryee had a shot saved, Bowden dove on a cross from C.C. Duryee to Cochran and Supple had a shot denied.

Hermon threatened to cut the deficit in half when Gallop made a nice run down the right side, fought past a defender and unleashed a shot with 24:51 to go, but Branch made the save.

Then, with 18:12 remaining, the Capers got the clincher.

Piper Duryee set Supple up with a nice pass and with Bowden out to cut off the angle, Supple touched the ball past the keeper and it rolled slowly toward the goal as the defense gave chase. Junior Maya Nelson was waiting to bang the ball home, but it crossed the line and Supple had her ninth goal of the postseason and the final goal of her sensational senior season and high school career.

“At halftime, Coach told us the next goal decides the game and if we score, it’s over,” Supple said. “We went out knowing we needed another. Piper sent me a beautiful ball. I saw the goalie coming out and just kicked it.”

“That goal was a really good finish,” Forsyth said. “It was a really nice through ball and a great finish from Emily. Emily’s always been special. She always had something different. I feel like she was overshadowed by Maggie and she played in a deeper position, because in years past, we had Prezli (Piscopo), we had Karli Chapin, we had Maggie, Liv Cochran. There were girls playing further forward who could score. After everything we lost from last year and moving pieces around, we knew we could get the best out of Emily going forward more. Playing her at striker definitely proved to be a great decision.”

Cochran had a couple chances to add to the lead, but was off-target, then Branch did her part, saving a pair of shots from Higgins.

At 4:59 p.m., the horn sounded and Cape Elizabeth was able to celebrate its 3-0 victory.

“It’s incredible,” Supple said. “We’ve looked forward to this game since the first time we got on the field freshman year.”

“It feels unreal,” said Branch. “To be able to have an opportunity to play with Emily and Maggie and all the seniors is truly special. It’s basically a four-peat. It’s especially sweet after not having a postseason last year. It’s been amazing to be part of this program, to play with Grace Gillian, Riley Dahl, Tori McGrath, Maggie and Emily, obviously, it’s been great.”

“For this to happen with this group of seniors, who were with me my first year, it’s really special,” added Forsyth, who is 59-2 in his tenure as Cape Elizabeth coach. “I wasn’t happy at halftime. We were careless with possession, we had to have better control with the ball. The second half was much more comfortable. We felt like we were in control.”

The Capers out-shot the Hawks, 13-7, took all six of the game’s corner kicks and got seven saves from Branch.

Branch credited her teammates for helping her post the shutout.

“Our defense was rock solid,” Branch said. “We’ve really grown. I’d say we’ll have a solid defense next year too.”

“A lot of the attention is on the offense, but our defense and Elise have held us together the entire season,” Supple said. “Credit to them.”

“Coming into the game, the little we knew about (Hermon) was that they had strong forwards, so our defenders had to be on right from the start,” added Cochran.

Hermon got 10 saves from Bowden but couldn’t generate any offense.

No end in sight

There is a bittersweet element to this championship, as Cape Elizabeth has to say goodbye to 11 seniors, including two unstoppable offensive forces.

Supple said after the game that she hopes to play in college, but won’t soon forget her time in a Capers uniform.

“Our town is a great town to be part of a sports team,” said Supple. “You see all the fans who came out today. It’s been so fun.”

Cochran will play next year at Northeastern University in Boston. Her heroics will long live in program lore.

“I’m very sad to leave this team, but I’m excited for my future,” Cochran said.

“It’s going to be extremely tough to say goodbye to the seniors,” said Forsyth. “We have a banquet tomorrow and it may be the first time they see a tear from me. They’re a special group, all of them. I don’t know if we’ll see a class like this senior class in the state of Maine again.”

Don’t weep for the Capers, however.

They’ll remain a team to beat in 2022.

“We’ll be fine next year,” said Forsyth. “We won’t be as good as the last four years for sure with the players we’re losing, but we’ll be a possession-based team again and we’ll try to dominate games.

“Never count us out.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.