READFIELD – The overtime magic came to an anticlimactic end for the Maranacook boys’ soccer team Saturday night.
And so, too, did the Black Bears’ season, thanks to Falmouth.
Andrew Murray scored a goal with 9:12 left in overtime to lift third-seeded Falmouth past second-ranked Maranacook 2-1 in a Western Class B semifinal game at Ricky Gibson Field of Dreams.
Falmouth (11-4-1), the defending Class B state champion, will play top-seeded Yarmouth — a 1-0 winner over No. 4 York — in the regional championship game Wednesday.
Maranacook (14-1-1) reached the semifinals after edging Fryeburg Academy 2-1 in double overtime Thursday.
“We played excellent,” Maranacook senior Dakota Duplissie said. “Falmouth is a great team. They played strong. We just had one collapse at the end.”
Murray scored the winner off a nice pass from senior midfielder Sam White.
“I saw a gap between (Murray) and his defender,” White said, “so I put it in between. He went hard to the ball, which is what we are supposed to do. I kept hoping he somehow would put it in the back of the net.”
Murray took the ball down the near sideline and raced in alone on Maranacook sophomore goalie Sam Nielsen.
“I knew it would be one-on-one with the goalie,” Murray said. “I knew I had to get a touch on that. When I got it, I was praying it would go in. And then I looked up and saw it go in the net.”
“There’s no shame in losing to them. That is a good team we lost to,” said Maranacook Coach Don Beckwith, whose team was outshot, 22-10. “They got everything they could handle. My kids didn’t quit.”
The Black Bears jumped out to a 1-0 lead when midfielder Harry Lanphear headed in a cross from Jon Findlay just 4:45 into the game. The goal came off a free kick from about 40 yards.
“I was back post and their goalie (Ben Goffin) got distracted,” Lanphear said. “I just headed it in. It felt good.”
“I thought we had the upper hand. It was big to get that goal,” said Duplissie, who nearly won the game late in regulation with a direct kick from 35 yards.
Maranacook did have the upper hand until White scored on a direct kick from about 23 yards with 12:43 left in the half.
“It was my second direct kick,” White said. “The first one I didn’t do anything with. So on the second one I tried to shoot harder and just put it past their goalie.”
The teams played even the rest of the way, although both had several good scoring chances. None were bigger than Duplissie’s shot on net with 2:20 left in regulation.
Duplissie took a direct kick from about 35 yards and put a good shot on Goffin, who couldn’t control the rebound. The ball came out in front but the Black Bears couldn’t convert.
Goffin had five saves while Nielsen stopped 13 shots.
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