CAPE ELIZABETH—This fall, for the first time in a long time, Cape Elizabeth’s girls’ soccer team isn’t the top seed or the playoff favorite.
But the Capers might still be the best of the bunch.
Friday evening at Hannaford Field, Cape Elizabeth, ranked second for the Class B South playoffs, hosted dangerous third-seeded Greely in a Class B South Final and despite not playing for 10 days, came out sizzling to seize control and set the tone for victory.
Just 75 seconds in, sophomore standout Noelle Mallory was fouled in the box, a penalty kick was awarded and Mallory scored to put the Capers in front to stay.
In the 10th minute, Mallory struck again, finishing a pass from senior captain Evelyn Agrodnia.
But victory wouldn’t come easily, as the Rangers got golden chance after golden chance only to come up empty due to a stellar performance from Cape Elizabeth’s senior goalkeeper Ellis Piper.
Piper made seven first half saves to preserve the lead, then stood tall again in the second half.
With 13:59 to go, the Capers got some breathing room, as freshman Finley DiGiovanni set up sophomore Hailey Gorman for the clincher and after two more highlight reel Piper saves, Cape Elizabeth prevailed, 3-0.
The Capers, who avoided the fate of last year’s squad, which was upset in this round, improved to 14-2, ended Greely’s season at 8-6-2 and advanced to set up a Class B South showdown versus top-ranked, defending state champion Yarmouth (14-1-1) Wednesday at 4 p.m., at Deering High School in Portland.
“It’s a high-pressure game and it’s stressful, but these are the fun games, the ones we look forward to,” Agrodnia said. “We came in knowing how we felt when we lost last year and we weren’t going to let that happen again.”
Here we go again
Friday wasn’t the first time Cape Elizabeth and Greely have met in the playoffs.
It was actually the 22nd, dating back to 1985. The Capers had won 11 of those previous 21 meetings, including a 5-0 victory in the most recent encounter, the 2021 quarterfinals.
Both teams have had their moments this fall (see sidebar for links to previous stories).
Cape Elizabeth, under new coach Branden Noltkamper, lost twice to Yarmouth, but beat everyone else for its fifth consecutive double-digit regular season win total (in non-pandemic seasons). Last Tuesday, the Capers blanked No. 7 Wells, 3-0, in the quarterfinals.
Greely started fast, with a double-overtime win over Yarmouth, and was 4-1-1 at one juncture, but struggled beating the top teams in an 0-4-1 stretch before closing on a three-game surge. In last week’s quarterfinal, an overtime goal from junior Abby Lennox produced a 1-0 win over No. 5 York.
Friday, on a breezy 52-degree evening, the Rangers hoped to spring the upset, and had ample opportunity, but couldn’t solve Piper, while Cape Elizabeth took advantage of its chances to advance.
The Capers applied some early pressure and with 38:45 to go in the first half, Mallory got to a pass from junior CC Duryee, then was tripped up in the box and a penalty kick was awarded.
Mallory took the PK and beat Greely junior goalkeeper Lizzie Sproul low to the right corner to put her team ahead to stay.
“I was happy to take it,” said Mallory. “We’ve worked every day on PKs. We take 10 at the end of every practice. I was ready.”
While the goal galvanized the home team, it also awakened the Rangers, who pushed hard for the equalizer.
After sophomore Avery Bush missed just wide after a turnover, she took a long pass and appeared to tie the score when she beat Piper with a high blast in the sixth minute, but the linesman had his flag up before Bush ever shot, as she was ruled offsides and the score remained 1-0.
Piper then robbed senior Shaylee O’Grady, who was set up by sophomore Lily Pierce.
“The first shot, the offsides goal, made us really realize that I could get scored on,” said Piper. “I had a good warmup, then that happened and we knew we had to do something.”
The Capers counter-attacked and with 30:38 on the clock, took a two-goal lead, as Agrodnia played a ball ahead to Mallory, who fired a shot past Sproul.
“We’ve worked a lot of breaking lines and Greely has a very good back line, so we figured one our best ways around them was through,” Mallory said. “We have good players playing balls through and we ran on to them. That was a great ball from Evelyn.”
“You think that first goal would have settled the nerves a little bit, but I think it made it more nervy for us going up that early,” Noltkamper said. “We adjusted and kept going on the front foot. Noelle just changes everything. She’s a special player and we’re lucky to have her.”
Piper then stole the show, as after an O’Grady free kick hit the near post, she denied Pierce on the rebound before saving shots from junior Molly Partridge and Bush and diving to rob another bid from Bush.
“The one-v-ones, I mostly just react,” said Piper. “Others, I have to read. I was practicing in warmups knowing that the wind would carry the ball.”
“(Ellis is) insane,” Agrodnia said. “I’m glad she’s on my side, but sometimes she hurts our ego in practice. It’s nice to have her.”
Cape Elizabeth had its chances to salt away the victory, but Mallory missed just high, then appeared primed to complete a hat trick when she sent an Agrodnia free kick on frame, only to be robbed by Greely senior back Kylie Crocker.
Sproul then dove to stymie Mallory again before sophomore Maisie Rayback headed an Agrodnia corner kick just high.
The game wasn’t as wide open in the second half, but both teams had their opportunities.
Early on, Lennox served in a corner kick that Bush got her head on, but she sent it just wide.
After Piper broke up a pass from Lennox to sophomore Kelsey Crocker, Mallory again had a terrific look at a potential third goal, but her blast hit the crossbar.
With 13:58 to play, the Capers wouldn’t be denied, as Mallory brought the ball up the middle of the field, passed to DiGiovanni on the left, then DiGiovanni crossed the ball to Gorman, who beat Sproul to make it 3-0.
While victory was out of reach, the Rangers battled to the final horn and had two more great chances, but first Bush was robbed one-on-one, then Piper leaped and stretched to the limit to get to a promising blast from junior Molly Partridge.
Cape Elizabeth then ran out the clock and was able to advance.
“Ten days between games is a long time, but we trained and kept going,” said Agrodnia. “We controlled the controllables and went with the flow.”
“We just had to calm down in games like this because they’re high pressure,” Mallory said. “We learned from last year. We didn’t turn off the gas.”
“Playoffs are different and anything can happen,” added Noltkamper. “The kids questioned what it might look like when we came out and played, but we told them to stick to the plan and they did. Greely made it really difficult for us tonight. I’m proud of the girls. We’re a young group and much of the game was pretty chaotic for us, but we found a way to get it done.
The Capers got nine saves from Piper, many of them of the acrobatic variety.
“Ellis was phenomenal,’ Noltkamper said. “We’ve known all year we have a special player in net. She changes the game for us and it gives so much confidence to the other girls knowing we have Ellis in goal.”
Cape Elizabeth also had a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.
Bright future
Greely got five saves from Sproul and had a 9-8 edge in shots on frame, but ultimately had nothing to show for it.
“I think we outplayed them for a good part of the game, but none of our chances fell the way they should have,” said Rangers coach Rachel Williams. “We’ve not been able to come back historically after getting down, so coming back today shows we’ve made a lot of progress and shows a lot of growth.
“I’m super-proud of the girls. I just wanted them to get one more ‘W.’ The girls played really well. We have a deep team. We’ve come so far the past couple years. I feel like a lot of people don’t think we’re in contention, then here we are in November and Cape doesn’t want to play us and Yarmouth doesn’t want to play us because we’re dangerous.”
Greely loses some top talent to graduation, but also returns a lot and could break through in 2024.
“We have a few really special seniors we’ll really miss,” Williams said. “They’ve been a big part of our soccer community and everybody knows them. They’ve been so important in helping build this program. They’re leaving behind something great.
“We only lose a few key players, so we have a lot to build on. The younger girls have learned a lot over the course of the past three months. We’re so close.”
Eyeing the Clippers
Cape Elizabeth lost twice to Yarmouth this year, 1-0 at home Sept. 14 and 2-0 on the road Oct. 17. The Capers are 4-2 all-time versus the Clippers in the playoffs, with a 3-0 win in the 2021 regional final the most recent.
Cape Elizabeth believes the third time will be the charm.
“I’m so excited,” said Agrodnia. “This is where were want to be and we’re out for revenge.”
“I think it’s finally clicked for everyone that we have to put 100 percent into every game and that’s what it’s going to take,” Piper said.
“I just think we need to calm down and relax,” said Mallory. “This is the most motivation I’ve had all year. Speaking for the team, we want nothing more.”
“This is the matchup we wanted and I think it’s the matchup Yarmouth wanted,” Noltkamper added. “It’ll be a fun game. We just have to not get in our own way. We’re in a much better space mentally and we’re more prepared than we were a few weeks ago. Now, we’re playing for something much bigger than ourselves. Our goal from the beginning was to win a state championship and we need to get past Yarmouth to do that.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. For game updates and links to game stories, follow him on Threads: @foresports2023
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