Sam Cochran of Cape Elizabeth leaps to make a bicycle kick during the 2022 Class B South championship game versus Yarmouth. The Clippers won, 3-2. On Wednesday, the teams will meet again in the regional final after splitting two games in the regular season. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
If the lead up to this week’s boys’ soccer South regional finals is any indication, get ready for close games that go extra time.
In Class A South, both No. 3 Deering and No. 4 Portland have won a pair of playoff games that went to double overtime. In the semifinal round, Portland needed penalty kicks to knock out No. 1 Windham and Deering beat No. 7 Falmouth with 15 seconds left in double overtime. The two city schools will take their crosstown rivalry on the road to Kennebunk High for the regional final at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
In Class B, three-time defending state champ and top seed Yarmouth needed a great save by keeper Ian O’Connor to get to overtime, where it beat No. 4 York.
At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Clippers (14-2) meet longtime rival No. 2 Cape Elizabeth (11-4-1) in the regional final at Deering High. The Capers beat No. 3 Lincoln Academy 4-0 in their semifinal.
Also at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, in the Class C South final, No. 2 Traip Academy of Kittery (12-3-1) will try to ruin No. 1 Mt. Abram’s unblemished season at Lewiston High. The Roadrunners (16-0) from Salem Township vanquished four-time state champion Waynflete 3-0 in the semifinal round.
The Portland and Deering coaches say past performances will mean little in the Class A South final.
“When Portland plays Deering you can throw out the book on either team. It’s a rivalry,” said Rocco Frenzilli, Portland’s coach since 1999.
When Deering beat Portland 3-1 in the regular season, the Rams were coming off a 4-1 loss to Gorham and had gone 1-2-1 in their previous four games. Portland was rolling with a 10-1-1 record.
Neither team has won a state title. Deering has never won a regional title. Portland’s last regional title was in 2017.
“It brings new excitement,” said Joel Costigan, Deering’s coach since 2011. “The idea that we could go to a state championship game, we could win a state title, they can see the possibility of it.”
In A North, No. 2 Camden Hills (13-3) will be at No. 1 Lewiston (13-2-1), at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Lewiston is coming off an emotional 2-1 win against Edward Little. Camden Hills beat Brewer, 3-0.
The Class A state championship game will be Saturday at Messalonskee High in Oakland.
In B South, Cape Elizabeth is the only team to beat Yarmouth in a playoff game in the past eight tournaments, a 2-1 win as the fourth seed in the 2018 regional semifinal. The Capers then lost to Freeport in the South final.
Cape has not won a regional title since 1997, the final season in a dominant 12-year run (1986-97) in Class A, where it won eight state championships and 10 regional titles. But Cape has beaten Yarmouth in the regular season the past two years, including a 3-1 road win this season. Yarmouth won 4-1 at Cape.
“We are familiar with them. Just a lot,” joked Yarmouth Coach Mike Hagerty. “I would say we’re about as even as we could be.”
Hagerty lauded Cape striker Sam Cochran – “the best player in the conference, if not the state” – and Cape’s overall offensive power with forwards Keegan Lathrop and Alex van Huystee and midfielder Rory O’Grady. Yarmouth, which does not have a 10-goal scorer, is led by its defense of O’Connor in goal, backs Sam Lowenstein, Jonathan Fulton, Justin Dawes, Max Gilbert and defensive-minded midfielder Mihailo Medenica.
The South winner advances to Saturday’s championship at Mt. Ararat High in Topsham against Ellsworth (13-2-1) or John Bapst (14-1-1). In last year’s state final, Yarmouth beat John Bapst, 3-2.
In C South, Traip (12-3-1) earned its first trip to a regional final since 2017 (a loss at Maranacook) by beating two-win Mountain Valley 3-0, and five-win Winthrop, 4-0. Ivan Blanco (15 goals) and Adrian Cunningham each scored twice against Winthrop. Forward Quinn Alessi (12 goals), midfielders Makili Matty and Brody Johnson and back Aiden DiSalvo are other key players for Traip.
Traip has scored 50 goals this season, but Mt. Abram has outscored its opponents, 76-2.
“Their record speaks for itself and having only allowed two goals speaks to how hard they work and the togetherness they have,” said Traip Coach Michael MacLeay.
The Class C state final will be Saturday at Mt. Ararat with either Mt. View (11-4) or George Stevens (12-2-2) representing the North.
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