TOPSHAM — A dominant run for the Yarmouth girls’ soccer team continued with a dominant performance in the Class B championship game Saturday.
Seniors Brooke Boone and Aine Powers scored goals, and Yarmouth rolled to its second straight state championship with a 2-0 victory over Ellsworth at Mt. Ararat High School.
It’s the Clippers’ fourth championship in seven seasons. Yarmouth (16-1-1) also won back-to-back titles in 2016-17.
“I’m not sure if it’s set in yet,” said Yarmouth Coach Andy Higgins, an Ellsworth alum. “I’m kind of more worried about Monday’s banquet and saying goodbye to 17 amazing seniors. But this will sink in as time goes on. It’s still kind of fresh. I couldn’t be prouder of the way the girls competed all season.”
The score was closer than the game. The Clippers outshot the Eagles (14-3-1) by an 18-1 margin, and were rarely threatened en route to the shutout.
“They have (17) seniors. The level and the mentality is hard to overcome,” said Ellsworth Coach Eric Terrill, who got 16 saves from Jayden Sullivan. “Their speed of play (is) better than our speed of play. I think in the North, we don’t get that speed of play enough, so we really have to work on developing (that) to be able to come in and compete.”
Throughout the season, the Clippers thought they had something to prove, even with the Gold Balls and banners they had garnered in recent seasons. Yarmouth graduated a strong senior class last year, led by Varsity Maine Player of the Year Ava Feeley, and the Clippers felt opponents were taking them more lightly than before.
That edge hadn’t faded by Saturday.
“We’re a really good team. People doubted us this year, but winning for the second time is so special,” Powers said. “I think we worked really hard towards this since day one, since preseason. We knew this was our goal and we worked towards it every single day.”
That work paid off quickly on a cold, breezy field in Topsham. Yarmouth applied pressure from the opening minute, and broke through when Boone got a close kick from the right post through Sullivan for a 1-0 lead with 24:54 to go in the half.
“We had a million tries and it just wasn’t working, but I knew if we just kept (attacking) them it would go in,” Boone said. “It’s really important to get the first goal. I think that sets the tone.”
The second goal was a terrific individual effort, as Powers brought the ball up, planted from 25 yards out and blasted a shot into the top left corner with 27:45 to play. The senior forward, knowing she had hit it pure, started rejoicing while the ball was in flight.
“I had a couple chances and they didn’t fall through, and I just kept working towards that,” she said. “When I hit it that time … I knew that that was the one.”
Terrill credited the Yarmouth attack, but directed most of his praise to a Clippers defense that snuffed out one threat after another.
“Defensively, I thought they were extremely organized,” he said. “You could say ‘Oh, their attack was great.’ … Defensively, I thought they were legit tonight.”
Ellsworth’s best chance came on a corner in the 66th minute, followed by a long direct kick from Kennedy Lambert from the far left side that sailed wide right. Otherwise, the Yarmouth defense, led by Neena Panozzo, Cate King, Eleanor Ting and Isabel Peters, as well as midfielders Sophie Wentzell, Maya Hagerty and Kadin Davoren and keeper Regan Sullivan, had no trouble securing the Clippers’ 11th shutout.
“They don’t get enough credit,” Higgins said. “They’ve been great, they’ve been dominant a lot of times. … They’ve carried us for large stretches.”
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