Yarmouth girls start fast, blank Greely

YARMOUTH—In the season opener, Yarmouth’s girls’ soccer team was held scoreless at Greely for nearly 90 minutes in an overtime loss.

Saturday afternoon, the Clippers welcomed the Rangers and needed less than three minutes to find the net.

And that set the tone for victory and a taste of revenge.

Junior Taylor Oranellas converted senior Aine Powers’ corner kick to put Yarmouth on top to stay and senior Kadin Davoren scored off another corner kick in the 19th minute, as the Clippers shot to a 2-0 halftime lead.

Greely hoped to get back in the contest, but couldn’t generate many chances and a goal from senior Sophie Wentzell with 14 minutes remaining slammed the door as Yarmouth closed out a 3-0 victory.

The Clippers won their sixth game in succession, improved to 6-1 and in the process, dropped the Rangers to 4-2-1.

“Greely’s a good team,” said Yarmouth coach Andy Higgins. “As good as anyone we’ll play. The kids are rising to the challenge. It’s a lot of fun to come out here with them every day.”

Living up to billing

Entering the season, consensus held that multiple teams had a legitimate shot of winning Class B South this fall and the first half of the campaign has borne that out.

Back on Aug. 31, Yarmouth came to Cumberland and suffered a setback in the first outing of its title defense, losing at Greely, 1-0, in double-overtime, on sophomore Avery Bush’s goal.

The Clippers quickly hit their stride, however, blanking host Gray-New Gloucester (6-0), winning at reigning Class A North champion Brunswick (2-0), blanking host York (3-0), then winning their home opener, 1-0, over Cape Elizabeth, before edging visiting Waynflete Thursday, 3-2.

The Rangers followed up their win in the opener with a 5-0 blanking of Fryeburg Academy, then lost at home to Cape Elizabeth (4-1) before winning at Waynflete (4-1), tying host Freeport (0-0) and Thursday, downing visiting Poland 4-0).

Saturday, on an overcast, 59-degree afternoon, in front of a large crowd, Greely sought its first season sweep of Yarmouth since 2012, but instead, the Clippers kept their good times rolling.

Yarmouth senior Aine Powers serves up a corner kick. Twice, Powers’ corner kicks led to goals as the Clippers beat Greely Saturday, 3-0. Hoffer photos.

Yarmouth carried play early and was rewarded by earning a corner kick and with 37:28 on the first half clock, Powers served a beautiful ball toward the back post, where Oranellas ran on to it and booted it past Greely junior goalkeeper Lizzie Sproul for a quick 1-0 lead.

“We wanted to come out quick and hard,” said Powers. “We knew we could get them right away. I’m always looking for strong players like Taylor. I just kind of hit it and trusted she’d get it. That was a really good shot. It gave us energy for the whole game.”

“The first goal set a tone,” Higgins said. “We needed that. Aine’s got a knack in everything she does if she’s not scoring, being in the mix of scoring goals. She put balls in good spots and we made good runs.”

After Davoren missed just wide, then senior Sonja Bell had a good look in the box blocked by a defender, the Clippers doubled their lead with 21:59 to go, as Powers again served in a corner kick, the ball deflected up top to Davoren and Davoren fired a high blast over Sproul and in to make it 2-0.

“Kadin’s always in the right place at the right time,” Powers said. “She hit an amazing ball. All credit to her.”

“It was a rough start,” lamented Greely coach Rachel Williams. “We can’t start a couple goals down. We can’t let anybody score on corners.”

Late in the half, the Rangers had their chances to get back in it, but junior Molly Partridge had a shot saved by Clippers senior goalkeeper Regan Sullivan, senior back Isabel Peters made a defensive save off a corner and Davoren broke up a bid from senior Shaylee O’Grady to keep Yarmouth in front by two at the break.

Entering the second half, the Clippers sought a third goal to put it away and not allow Greely to score and gain confidence that it could rally.

Greely junior Abby Lennox passes the ball to senior Katie Dubbert as Yarmouth senior Brooke Boone defends.

Early on, senior Brooke Boone missed just wide. Sproul then saved a shot from Powers.

With 22:55 remaining, O’Grady had a chance to pull the Rangers closer, but her long blast sailed just high.

After Sproul saved a Powers shot, Sullivan denied Partridge.

Then, with 14:28 to go, Yarmouth put it away, off yet another corner kick, as Bell sent the ball in and Boone had a shot saved, but Wentzell was there to bang home the rebound.

“The next goal created the tone of the game,” Powers said. “Either we made it an even bigger difference or they’d make it closer. Being up 3-0 was a lot more comfortable.”

“We thought the next goal was the biggest,” Higgins said. “If (the Rangers) got it, it was a fight and if we got it, the momentum was in our favor. I would have liked to have gotten it earlier, but good for Sophie for being there and punching one in.”

Down the stretch, Sullivan broke up a Partridge pass to junior Abby Lennox, then Lennox sent a header off an O’Grady corner kick just high.

The Clippers ran out the clock from there and celebrated their 3-0 victory.

Yarmouth’s post-game celebration.

“We had first-game jitters last time, but we worked hard to connect today and pass through the midfield,” said senior defensive standout Neena Panozzo. “We were talking a lot on defense. We had each other’s backs. When someone steps, we all stepped together.”

“We were fired up to beat them,” Sullivan said. “It’s great. It just shows if we put our mind to it, we can do anything.”

“Things are starting to come together and it was fun to see it come together today,” Higgins added. “We defended well. We were compact. We tried to limit their dangerous players and if you look at their roster, there’s a lot of them. The girls did great.”

The Clippers finished with a 7-3 advantage in shots on frame, an 8-3 edge in corner kicks and got three saves from Sullivan.

“My defense was amazing,” said Sullivan. “I love them. They make my job easy.”

Greely got four saves from Sproul but couldn’t dig out of an early hole.

“I think we had some time where we dominated play and connected some great passes, but they didn’t turn into scoring opportunities,” Williams said. “When we don’t play together, we won’t win games.”

No nights off

Greely has another tough road test looming Tuesday in the town of Yarmouth, when it goes to North Yarmouth Academy, the four-time reigning Class D champion, now playing in Class C. The Rangers go to York next Thursday, then have a showdown at Cape Elizabeth Oct. 5.

“We just need to be consistent, build on our strengths, recognize our weaknesses and correct our flaws,” Williams said. “That’s how we’ll win games. We still have some big games to come.”

Yarmouth will be tested at Freeport Tuesday. After hosting Mt. Ararat in a compelling interconference game Saturday, the Clippers play at NYA, a team which beat them in 2022, on Oct. 3.

“I’m so excited,” Sullivan said. “I can’t wait to see what we do the rest of the season.”

“I think we need to keep focusing on the game in front of us,” Panozzo said. “If we keep working hard in practice, we’ll be great.”

“We have a large senior class this year and a lot of leaders on the team,” Powers said. “That’s important for our team dynamic. We work together well. That makes us such a good team.”

“This senior group has been together forever,” Higgins added. “They’re large in numbers and large in talent. They push each other, they pull for each other, they’re close. Their attitude, drive and determination are the key this year.

“We just have to show up every day with the goal of getting better. We’re in a good spot, but there’s no easy games.”