With about five minutes left in last Thursday’s Western Class A semifinal game against Cheverus, Cape Elizabeth girls soccer player Alice Evans looked up at the clock and thought to herself, “Okay, we’re going out with a bang.”
The Capers might’ve been trailing the Stags by a pair of goals, but they know a little something about fighting back. They didn’t pack it in when they started the season 0-5 and they weren’t ready to pack it in now.
The last-ditch effort wasn’t enough, though. Undefeated in their 11 games leading up to Thursday’s contest, the Capers didn’t have enough left for one more rally. All that mattered to Evans and fellow senior Dana Riker, however, was that the Capers had proven themselves.
“We started out the season and no one in our town believed in us, and I think it had a mental effect on us,” said Evans. “Emotionally, we didn’t really think that we could play because we started out losing and we had a tough schedule.
“So it got into our heads and people didn’t come to our games, and now if you look at it, for the last 11 games we’ve been undefeated. Everyone was here today and our town believed in us and we believed in ourselves.”
Added Riker: “Coming back from 0-5 and winning 11 games in a row, that’s pretty impressive, I think. (The season) is not at all a disappointment.”
Especially when you consider that the ninth-seeded Capers knocked off No. 1 Scarborough in the quarterfinals of the tourney. The Capers fought through 80 minutes of regulation and two overtime periods before winning in a shootout on a goal by Grace Needleman.
The Stags made sure Thursday’s game didn’t get that far. They scored once at the end of the first half and padded the lead with another goal at the beginning of the second half.
Sophomore Kathryn Hess made it 1-0 when she lofted a long and seemingly harmless shot toward goalie Marla Houghton from the right side with less than four minutes in the half. The ball kept sailing right over Houghton’s head into the netting on the left side of the goal.
Sensing that his team needed a kick in the pants, Cape coach Deane Brooks made a halftime adjustment that he was hoping would create more scoring opportunities.
“In the first half we didn’t win many balls, so we changed the formation in the second half. We went from 4-5-1 in the first half to a 4-4-2,” he said. “We put them under more pressure, but when they got the second goal I knew they were looking to play the game out, which any good team’s going to do.”
The second goal came when freshman Elizabeth Somma settled a corner kick by Hess and booted the ball just under the crossbar.
With nearly 40 minutes left on the clock, the Stags went into full-protection mode. The Capers still managed to create some chances for themselves, though.
“We’re used to coming back – our season is an example of that. So we knew we’re not a team that would give up after 2-0,” said Evans.
Riker had a hard shot on goal from 25 yards out that was turned away 12:30 into the second. That was followed in the next 10 minutes by a pair of corner kicks. The Capers’ best chance came 25 minutes in when Riker volleyed a long pass off the post. The rebound was cleared away before it could be knocked it.
“It’s tough,” said Riker. “They did a good job clearing it out every time we got down there. We’re used to coming back, obviously, from the start of our season. I don’t think we ever stopped trying, so that was good.”
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