PORTLAND—Cheverus’ girls’ soccer team is young, but do the Stags ever have promise.
And that was on display Friday afternoon at Boulos Stadium against visiting South Portland in the teams’ mutual season opener.
In the game’s fourth minute, freshman Rachel LaSalle put Cheverus on top to stay and sophomores Finley Brown and Jillian Foley added goals before LaSalle struck for a second time for a commanding 4-0 halftime advantage.
The Stags added one more goal in the second half, an “own goal,” and that was more than enough to produce a 5-0 victory.
Cheverus opened its season in style, winning its opener for the fifth year in a row, and while its future is bright, the present is pretty promising as well.
“I’m super-pleased with the result,” said Stags coach Craig Roberts. “It’s another step in the process. Eight of the players that we started either weren’t here last year, or didn’t see significant minutes until the end of last season. I didn’t know what we’d have.”
Starting over
While graduation did a number on Cheverus, South Portland is welcoming a new coach this fall in Tyler Pelletier, who formerly coached at Mt. Ararat. The Red Riots were 2-13 in 2021, losing, 4-0, to Gorham in the preliminary round of the Class A South playoffs.
The Stags have been in the upper echelon of Class A South for many years and after going 10-6 a year ago, also falling to Gorham (3-0 in the quarterfinals), have to replace the scoring punch of the graduated Julia Kratzer.
Last season, Cheverus won at South Portland, 2-0.
Friday, on a pleasant early-September afternoon (temperature in the high-60s), the Red Riots sought their first win over the Stags since a 1-0 overtime victory Oct. 20, 2008 in Portland, but instead, Cheverus improved to 11-0 (with two ties) over the teams’ past 13 meetings.
South Portland freshman Stella Henderson is defended by Cheverus senior captain Maddie Hom, left, and senior Lily Hoyt during the Stags’ 5-0 victory Friday. Hoffer photos.
With 36:18 to go in the first half, the Stags got the only goal they would need, as LaSalle got the ball in the middle, turned and fired a shot past Red Riots senior goalkeeper Katie O’Hare.
“I just wanted to contribute,” LaSalle said. “I just had a thought and I just shot. I was surprised it went in, but it felt good.”
“Rachel’s a really shy kid, but she plays with an edge which I thought would help us and it has,” Roberts said. “We’ve had her as a midfielder, as a back and up top. We’re trying to give her confidence. She gives us speed and aggressiveness. I’m happy for her because I know she likes the team. As a freshman, the sky’s the limit for her.”
South Portland had a look at the equalizer, but senior Ava Bryant sent a shot wide.
With 31:25 on the clock, Cheverus doubled its lead, as Brown pounced on a failed clear and fired the ball into the net.
O’Hare then stymied the Stags for a time, saving shots from sophomore Annie Vigue, senior captain Caoilinn Durkin and Foley, but with 10:02 left, after pressure from sophomore Sophia Monfa, the ball came to Foley, who scored unassisted, beating the defense before sending the ball past O’Hare, who dove to her left to no avail.
“Before the season, I challenged Finley and Jill,” said Roberts. “They’re sophomores, but they’re club players, so they’re veterans. They didn’t get a lot of recognition last year. I told them they’ll be leaders on this team for three more years and that you need to lead by example and show people that you’re right up there with the other top midfielders in the lead. You need to win 50-50 balls and challenge with your body and others will follow you. They responded to that challenge.”
The fourth goal came with 7:10 on the clock, as Monfa found LaSalle, who again buried a long shot.
“I was kind around the same area I scored my first one, so I knew if I could do it one time, I could do it again,” LaSalle said.
“We emphasized coming out strong in the first 20 minutes and we did that today,” said junior captain Reese Belanger. “I think that we’re creating a team culture that really emphasizes that everyone has a crucial role, so I think it’s really important for the younger players to score.”
Cheverus enjoyed an 8-0 shots advantage in the first half and wouldn’t allow the Red Riots back in the game in the second half.
South Portland sophomore Brooke Lawton is pursued by Cheverus freshman Jenna Jensen.
Early on, Monfa had a shot saved by a diving O’Hare and O’Hare denied LaSalle as well, but with 19:58 remaining, off a corner kick, Monfa’s serve deflected off a couple defenders and into the goal to make it 5-0.
To its credit, South Portland fought hard throughout and had some chances down the stretch, but Stags sophomore keeper Evelyn Rush denied sophomore Brooke Lawton, dove to rob sophomore Marina Bassett, then stopped another Bassett shot to bring the curtain down on Cheverus’ victory.
Cheverus players rush to congratulate sophomore goalie Evelyn Rush after Friday’s 5-0 victory.
“I’m really proud of the team,” said Belanger. “We’re pretty young. We’re seeing what we can do. I’m glad we had a lead the whole game.”
“We’ve focused on how to be a varsity teammate on and off the field, how to be a varsity player and what that looks like with physicality and play,” Roberts said. “We got a good result because we did what we’ve been working on. The girls want to play for each other.”
The Stags out-shot the Red Riots, 12-3, and took four corner kicks to South Portland’s one. Rush stopped three shots.
O’Hare made seven saves for South Portland, which never gave up.
“The girls did a good job of not putting their heads down,” Pelletier said. “They kept working. The opportunities were there. We just need to finish. We had a few mistakes that we’ll clean up. We had first-game jitters. We cleared it to the middle three times in a row and they scored all three times.”
Up next
South Portland looks to get in the win column Tuesday in its home opener versus Thornton Academy.
“We’ll go home and play TA, a physical team,” Pelletier said. “We have a young squad. We’ll try to figure it out. We’re trying to change the culture of South Portland soccer where we don’t sit back and let other teams do stuff to us. We’re attacking more. I hope we can turn around and make a good presence.”
Cheverus hopes to keep rolling Tuesday when it has a playoff rematch at Gorham. The Stags then host Bonny Eagle next Thursday.
“Gorham and Bonny Eagle are two really good opponents,” Roberts said. “I’m not at a point where it makes sense to scout opponents. We have what we have to work on. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. The girls have a mentality of not using our youth as an excuse. They want to play for each other.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.
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