WINDHAM — Portland High junior Francisco Samuel stepped to the penalty kick spot as Portland’s ninth shooter.
After 110 minutes of tense, exciting, high-level and scoreless soccer Thursday night against unbeaten Windham – the No. 1 team in the Varsity Maine poll – Portland had a 6-4 edge in penalty kicks. If Samuel scored, Portland would win the Class A South semifinal.
Did Samuel know he could end the game and send Portland to the regional final against, as it turns out, city rival Deering?
“No I did not, but one thing for sure was I knew I was going to do it for my teammates,” said Samuel, a reserve forward. “One thing I’m going to tell everyone is Portland is going for the states. We’re going to do our best. (Windham) did it’s best with high intensity. It was a great game.”
Portland won, 1-0, and will face Deering (11-3-2) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kennebunk High. Deering beat Portland in the regular season, 3-1.
“Portland-Deering. That’s something that can only be made in dreams. Last time when they beat us, they came out with more energy, and since then we haven’t stopped,” said Portland defensive stalwart Ronan Mas.
Fourth-seeded Portland (13-2-1) was in position to upset No. 1 Windham (14-1-1) because it kept the Eagles’ dynamic scoring duo of junior Luke Cunniffe and senior Nick Marion in check for most of the night as the teams allowed few scoring opportunities in front of a large, bipartisan crowd.
Portland goalie Calvin Hale made the save of the game with 10 minutes left in double overtime when he was able to deflect a Cunniffe blast at the last moment and direct it over the goal.
Hale also made a save on Windham’s eighth penalty shooter, deflecting a shot just wide of the net.
“Get one. My coach said you’ve just got to get one,” Hale said. “Wow. What a game. Nerve-wracking for one. Crazy for another. And awesome for a third.”
Windham had the early edge in penalty kicks. Goalie Lukas Hammond stopped Portland’s first two shots with diving saves, while Sam Rogers and Cunniffe buried their shots for a 2-0 Windham advantage.
That put Portland’s Martin Kalala-Wasukunki, the Bulldogs’ driving force in the midfield, in a must-make situation as Portland’s third shooter. He put his shot in the upper left corner.
“We’ve been practicing penalty kicks since last week, and I just trusted in what we have been doing in practice, and I choose my side and I shot it,” Kalala-Wasukundi said.
All of Portland’s nine shooters were on target. Kalala-Wasukundi, Mas, Felisberto Mauisi, Jonatas Onosaamba Calombo, Paulo Joao, Luis Ordonez-Franco and Samuel converted seven straight.
“It was a battle. Hats off to Portland. They have without a doubt the best midfield and talent up-and-down that we’ve seen this year. I would have liked to have seen them (in the regular season). They gave us a lot of fits and I think we gave them some fits, too,” Windham Coach Jeff Neal said.
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