Another year, another playoff run for the Gorham girls soccer team.
Gorham scored with just three minutes left in the second overtime and moved past Cheverus with a 2-1 win in a thriller of a Western Class A girls quarterfinal soccer matchup on Tuesday night.
The matchup pitted the fifth-seeded Stags against the No. 4 Rams, in a rematch of the season opener, which ended in a 1-1 draw. The two teams played out the same theme on Tuesday, but because it was the playoffs, someone had to come out on top.
After a deadlocked first half in which neither team was able to break deep into the other’s defense, Gorham came out with a sense of urgency early in the second half. Just two minutes in, Abbie Adkinson took a breakaway, but her shot went wide and the score remained even.
Cheverus gathered itself and fought back, pushing deep into the Gorham zone and challenging their defense with a few choice opportunities. With just over 37 minutes left in the half, Eden Monson sent a shot that just made it over the hands of the Gorham keeper and into the net.
The Rams didn’t break though, and came back with even greater tenacity, keeping possession in the Cheverus half of the field for an eight-minute span midway through the half. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to finish any of their opportunities.
“It’s like a wall, we have six people at the 18 and then we don’t know how to penetrate a lot of the time,” said Gorham coach Jeanne Zarrilli.
Though they were unable to finish during that long push, Gorham seemed to have effectively worn down the Cheverus defense, and the Rams took advantage in the 18th minute.
Adkinson sent an indirect kick into the box and teammate Lindsay Wilson put a shot on goal. The rebound came to the foot of Kiersten Turner, who was in the right place at the right time, and struck a shot into the back of the net to knot up the score.
The game went into the first overtime, with Gorham getting the only real opportunity for a goal with three minutes left. Sam Peters found herself on a breakaway down the middle of the field, but her shot sailed over the crossbar and the game moved into a second overtime.
It looked as if the game would head to a shootout as the minutes ticked off the clock, but Peters redeemed her earlier miss. After Gorham sent the ball into Cheverus territory, Peters took advantage of a lackadaisical effort by the Stags’ defense to recover the ball.
Peters bolted up from behind, took possession and fired a bullet of a shot that beat the Cheverus keeper. Her teammates poured onto the field and swarmed her in celebration.
“That’s just not giving up,” said Peters. “It’s crunch time, there’s a couple minutes left, you’ve just got to go for everything you can and get the ball in however you can.”
The win, along with an upset by Marshwood over top-ranked Scarborough, means that Gorham will host the Hawks on Saturday, in a rematch of last year’s Western Maine final.
Zarrilli wasn’t looking ahead just yet though, crediting Cheverus with a tough showing. “It was a hard fought win,” said Zarrilli. “Kudos to Cheverus, they played really hard.”
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