GORHAM — Brooke Farquhar set the Gorham field hockey program record for goals in a game last Tuesday, putting in five goals in the regular season-finale against Falmouth.
She had the record to herself for one game. On Tuesday, it was Emerson Homa’s turn to shine.
Homa scored five goals, leading a loaded Gorham attack in a 7-1 victory over Sanford in the Class A South quarterfinals. No. 2 Gorham improved to 14-1-0, and No. 7 Sanford finished 9-7-0.
“I don’t know, I feel like we were all just in the right spot. We knew where each other was on the field,” Homa said when asked what led to the scoring outburst. “We’ve been working on passing every single practice, and it’s really paid off.”
Farquhar was alone in the five-goal club for one week. She was happy to have company.
“I was screaming my head off on the sidelines,” said Farquhar, who scored a program-record 27 goals during the regular season. “If anyone was to tie it, I was happy it was her. We’ve worked so well together all season.”
It wasn’t a one-player show. Gorham’s balanced offense hummed throughout the first three quarters, with Farquhar, Hannah Bickford and Annabelle Collier sending one hit after another into the busy Sanford circle.
“They really brought their ‘A’ game today,” Sanford Coach Marti Kane said. “We know they’ve got a couple of top-notch players that we were focused on. When you have a team with that many skilled players, it’s almost like Whac-A-Mole. You can shut a couple down, and you’ve got a couple more that are coming out.”
Tuesday was Homa’s night. Natalie Miner had a shot that Sanford’s Megan Sheppard slid to save, but in so doing knocked the ball straight to Homa, who lifted a shot into the net with 37.8 seconds left in the first quarter. The second goal was perfect execution on a corner, with Farquhar inserting to Reece Leclerc atop the circle, getting the pass back, and then zipping a centering pass to Homa for a 2-0 lead with 9:54 left in the half.
The goal was a blur, even for the player who scored it.
“My stick was in the right spot,” Homa said. “I looked up and I was like ‘Wow. That just happened.'”
It doesn’t usually.
“That is the first time this season that play has worked,” Farquhar said. “Every day at practice, we run through that corner, because we know it will work if we execute it.”
The goals kept coming. Collier scored off of Bickford’s rebound to make it 3-0 at halftime, Homa tipped in a hit from Collier in the third quarter, and Homa added two more goals after a Leclerc goal in the fourth.
“We knew that it was possible that they could come out here and beat us,” Farquhar said. “We had the mindset that ‘This is our state game. We’re not going to mess around.'”
Coach Becky Manson said offense has been a point of emphasis.
“We’ve been really working on the vision of all of the players, and off-ball movement,” she said. “Prescanning and knowing, when the ball comes to me, where am I passing it to?”
Sanford got a goal from Paige Sevigny during an inspired fourth quarter in which it put 11 shots on Gorham goalie Madison Tibbals (12 saves).
“I’m proud of the effort that our team gave,” Kane said. “(We) fought the whole time. … Give all the credit to Gorham. They came out today and were firing on all cylinders.”
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