America might run on Dunkin’, but on Wednesday night, the Windham boys soccer team ran on Coffee.
Cape Elizabeth dominated possession all night, but Windham got two goals from Matt Coffee to move the Eagles past the Capers with a 2-1 victory at home in Wednesday’s quarterfinal boys soccer matchup.
The Capers got off to a hot start, controlling possession for nearly the entire first twenty minutes of the game, challenging Windham keeper Nick Noble to come up with some early saves.
Windham broke free in the 20th minute though, as Patrick Ciez pushed the ball down the right sideline and crossed it into Coffee, who fielded the pass and broke free of his defender. Coffee stuck his shot into the left corner, just inside the post, to put Windham on top.
“I didn’t even know it went in until everyone came yelling,” said Coffee. “I just trickled it into the bottom corner, and I think the goalie got screened.”
Windham kept their pressure on the rest of the half, and in much of the second, even as Cape continued to control possession throughout. The Eagles concentrated on shutting down Cape’s two standouts, Ben Brewster and Brock Barritt.
“He won every header, but we made it hard for him to get any of them on target,” said Windham coach Paul Baber about how his team eliminated Brewster’s size advantage in the box.
Cape was finally able to finish off a scoring opportunity in the 24th minute of the second half, as Barritt took possession in the box and beat the Windham defense. He fired off a shot that found net and tied up the score.
As the minutes ticked off the scoreboard, it looked as if the game would be headed to overtime, but Windham hung in and continued to push the ball up field.
“I’m very happy with the character we showed. It’s very easy once we were one-zip up, and then to concede a goal, for our heads to come down,” said Baber about his team’s continued intensity.
“We keep fighting with it,” added Coffee. “We’re not the best skilled players, but we all work together with it hard, and we get our chances.”
Their efforts paid off around the eight-minute mark, as the Eagles took a corner kick and sent it into the box. Coffee grabbed possession near the right end line off Adam Szklany’s header, and snuck a shot past the Cape goalie to put the Eagles on top.
“I was just hoping for a corner,” said Coffee. “I didn’t even mean to get the goal, but I just hit it as hard as I could and got a goal.”
It proved to be the game-winner, sending Cape Elizabeth home and allowing Windham to advance to the semifinals.
The loss was a bitter one for the Capers to swallow, having controlled the flow of the game throughout. “We definitely had way more possession than they did,” said Cape coach Ben Raymond after the game. “But as we see in soccer, that doesn’t always mean much.”
“I feel tough for them because they’re a good team, and they played very well tonight,” said Baber about his opponents after the game.
With the win, Windham moves on to host No. 7 Greely who pulled an upset win over Gorham on Wednesday night. The semifinal game will be played in Windham on Saturday.
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