YARMOUTH—Yarmouth’s boys’ soccer team, the three-time reigning Class B state champion, lives to play another day.

But just barely.

Wednesday evening, the top-ranked Clippers hosted an underappreciated, fourth-seeded York Wildcats squad with something to prove and the Wildcats did just that, going toe-to-toe with the league’s gold standard for nearly 90 minutes.

Before Yarmouth found a way to survive and advance.

After a scoreless first half which saw the Clippers put more shots on frame, but York have the most optimal scoring opportunity, each squad had great chances in the second half, but Yarmouth senior goalkeeper Ian O’Connor came up huge, the Wildcats had a goal waved off and York junior keeper Lukas Bouchard made a clutch save as well.

As a result, the game went to a 15-minute, “sudden victory” overtime, where O’Connor had to dive to make the save of his life to keep the season alive before the Clippers finally broke through with 5:13 on the clock, when senior Zach Kelly, no stranger to clutch goals, sent the ball home to produce an unforgettable 1-0 victory.

Yarmouth won its 15th consecutive postseason game, improved to 14-2, ended York’s season at 9-6-1 and advanced to take on either No. 2 Cape Elizabeth (10-4-1) or No. 3 Lincoln Academy (11-1-3) in the Class B South Final next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., at Deering High School in Portland.

“I’ve told people since preseason that York’s one of the top teams in the state and they showed it tonight,” said longtime Yarmouth coach Mike Hagerty. “I think it was a very even game, a wonderful game. We both had chances. I was obviously happy with the result, but for stretches of the game, (York) played their style better than we played ours.”

Pushed to the brink

Yarmouth has been the model of dominance over the past decade, averaging over 15 wins per year between 2014-22 (with the exception of the COVID season of 2020) and capturing seven Gold Balls in that span, including each of the past three.

This fall, the Clippers took the pitch being advertised in some quarters as an all-time great squad and after falling in the opener at Greely, Yarmouth lived up to billing, winning 12 straight, before falling at home to Cape Elizabeth in the finale (see sidebar for links to previous stories).

As the top seed in the region for the fifth time in six years, the Clippers dispatched No. 8 Fryeburg Academy, 5-1, in last week’s quarterfinals.

York, a perennial contender, began the season with just one win in four games, then caught fire and closed the regular season on a 7-2-1 tear to wind up fourth. In last week’s quarterfinal, the Wildcats eliminated No. 5 Greely, 2-0.

Yarmouth took both regular season encounters, 3-0 at home Sept. 7 and 4-1 at York Oct. 12.

The Clippers had won 11 of 16 prior playoff meetings dating to 1985, with a 3-0 victory in the 2021 quarterfinals the most recent.

Wednesday, on a frigid evening (kickoff temperature was 35 and it was down to 32 by night’s end), the Wildcats came oh-so-close to beating Yarmouth in the playoffs for the first time since the 1998 Western B Final, but instead, the champions found a way to prevail in the end.

Yarmouth senior Ben Flowerdew, who would figure prominently at the game’s conclusion, had a pair of promising crosses in the first five minutes, but on the first, senior Matt Gautreau had a header saved by Bouchard and on the second, Bouchard got to the ball a split second before Gautreau could reach it.

Ini the 10th minute, York got its first good chance, as a throw from senior Sam Hunter found the head of sophomore Robbie Hanscom, but Hanscom sent the ball just high.

After Kelly had a shot blocked, senior Zach Turkel sent the rebound just wide.

Bouchard then denied junior Zacarias Binda in the box and dove to get to a pass from junior Luis Cardoso to Gautreau.

With 9:52 remaining before halftime, the Wildcats nearly went on top, as Hanscom collected a long pass and with O’Connor off his line, had a lot of goal to shoot at, but he sent the ball just high.

After Bouchard saved a header from senior Justin Dawes, off a Flowerdew corner kick serve as time wound down, the contest went to the break even at 0-0.

And nothing would change in the second half.

Early on, O’Connor saved a long shot from senior Derek Parsons.

At the other end, senior Jonny Fulton headed a Flowerdew free kick wide.

After Bouchard saved a header from Fulton, at the other end, Fulton broke up a rush by Hanscom in the box.

With 15:25 remaining in regulation, Cardoso threatened to put Yarmouth in front, as he got a pass in front from Turkel, but Bouchard stopped him cold.

After senior Nick Hoy shot high on a rush for York, the Wildcats appeared to get the goal they sought with 5:30 on the clock, as senior Connor Roberge set up Hanscom for a low shot that beat O’Connor inside the far post, but the shot was waved off due to a foul and the game remained scoreless.

The Clippers had two more chances in the final minute, but Turkel had a shot blocked in the box and senior Mihailo Medenica sent the rebound high and sent the game to overtime in the process.

And the fun was just getting started.

A minute in, York earned a throw and Hunter found the head of Roberge, who sent the ball high.

With 11:30 remaining, the Wildcats earned a free kick about 30 yards out and nearly shocked the world.

Instead of ripping a shot, junior Jack Joyce tapped the ball to Roberge, who hit a blast that appeared ticketed for just inside the near post, but O’Connor dove at the last second to make the save of the night.

“That’s why I’m there, I love being in that spot,” said O’Connor. “You don’t have much time to think. It’s just training. Credit to (assistant coach Dale) Wing and the other goalies, they push me every day in practice and that’s why I could make those saves. As the game went on, I got more and more comfortable.”

“That save was incredible,” said Kelly. “My heart dropped a little bit when it was shot, but he just saved it.”

“We know how important set pieces are,” Hagerty added. “The (defender) who was supposed to take away that square pass, I moved him to the weak side because I saw (Nick Hoy) sneaking over and ironically, I opened up that shot for them, but Ian thankfully made a beautiful save. It was a beautiful play, well coached, well executed and Ian was up to the task.”

At the other end, Yarmouth took a corner kick and sophomore George Brown sent the ball in to Fulton, who had a shot blocked. The rebound came to Brown, who had a look at the goal, but he missed wide.

With 7:20 left, the Clippers got a good look off a throw from Dawes, but senior Adam McLaughlin’s shot was thwarted by a diving Bouchard.

With 6:23 on the clock, Flowerdew sent a cross into the box which found the head of Turkel, but again, Bouchard made the save.

But Yarmouth’s persistence would finally pay off, as it earned a free kick which led to the decisive tally.

Flowerdew lofted the ball in, Bouchard leaped, but the ball got past him, Kelly got possession momentarily, lost it, then with 5:13 on the clock, he managed to steer the ball into the goal with his body to win it, 1-0.

“The ball bounced around, came to me and I chested it, it hit off another player and I just kind of ran into it and it went into the goal,” said Kelly. “I was just in the right place.”

“We headed it down, which was the right thing to do, then Zach ran through it, which was also the right thing to do,” Hagerty said. “We run people to spots in anticipation of second balls. He’s a junkyard dog. Inside the 12, there aren’t many better. He can find balls. I’m so happy for him. He’s worked so hard.”

For a moment, there was some uncertainty as to whether or not the goal would stand, as a linesman had his flag up, but after a discussion, the goal was confirmed.

“From what I heard, they were saying offsides, but I was confident it was a goal,” Kelly said.

“My eyes immediately went to the linesman and was afraid it would be no goal, but as soon as I saw the second wave of excitement, I knew we won,” O’Connor said.

“I couldn’t see what was going on in there,” said York coach Julie Johnson. It’s a tough way for that game to end, but that’s sports.”

Then, at 8:58 p.m., the celebration began.

“It’s an amazing feeling to run into the student section and celebrate and see all my best friends,” said Kelly. “We got frustrated, but we kept talking to each other and stayed calm. We picked each other up. We kept repeating that this wasn’t going to be our last game. If we got down on ourselves, it would have been. When it went into overtime, Ian kept repeating to be excited to be here. There’s a lot of pressure, but we take it and think of it more as excitement. I think this was a great reality check for us. We didn’t come in as hard as we could have. We had a good amount of opportunities in the first 20 minutes, then it fell apart and we just started to kick the ball and run after it.”

“We all know where we wanted to be since August 13th at 6 a.m., right here on this field playing our game,” O’Connor said. “We wanted it. We had more chances, so the probability was that we were going to score first. York’s a great team. It’s hard to beat a good team three times. They bring it and have a great culture. They didn’t quit either. It was a privilege to play against them.”

“We had to remind the guys going to overtime that this is fun,” Hagerty added. “You want to be in games like these and you remember them for the rest of your lives. I think we started the game well and ended the game well and the overtime went well. That all happened when we connected passes and used the width of the field. We weren’t successful going down the middle. I felt like we had better quality chances, but boy, did they have some good ones and they had a goal taken away. We don’t panic. We were a little better at the right time, but we could have easily lost and held our heads high. York was deserving to be one of the final four.”

The Clippers had nine shots on frame to the Wildcats’ four, had an 8-4 edge in corner kicks and got four critical saves from O’Connor.

“Ian had a great game,” Hagerty said. “His distribution was excellent, his angles were good and his communication has gotten better.”

So very close

Bouchard made eight saves for York, which impressed all on hand with its tenacity and ability to give Yarmouth a scare, but ultimately, the Wildcats fell agonizingly short.

“I’m incredibly proud,” Johnson said. “This team has been really special all year long. We wanted to move on and have some more time together. We felt like we were right there with them. We had great chances. I’d say it was a very even game.

“This is heartbreaking, but I can’t say enough about how much I love this team. We’ve talked about trusting and believing in each other all year and we’ve been getting better. We’re in a really hard conference. We’ve just kind of been building and building and got some quality wins. A lot of people didn’t expect a lot out of us, but we did.”

Suffice it to say we haven’t heard the last of York, which will be a serious contender in 2024.

“We have incredible seniors who paved the way for the program and redefined our culture and we’ll really miss them, but we also have a solid core of juniors and sophomores coming back,” Johnson said. “We hope to keep building.”

Not done yet

The Clippers will learn their regional final opponent Thursday when Cape Elizabeth hosts Lincoln Academy in the other Class B South semifinal.

Yarmouth split with Cape Elizabeth this fall, winning, 4-1, at the Capers Sept. 14, then falling at home, 3-1, Oct. 16. The Clippers have won four of five prior playoff meetings, with a 3-2 victory in last year’s thrilling Class B South Final the most recent.

Yarmouth and Lincoln Academy didn’t meet this season. The Clippers are 8-2 all-time versus the Eagles in the playoffs, with an 8-0 victory in the 2017 semifinals the most recent.

Yarmouth is close enough to taste another championship and after surviving Wednesday’s scare, it will be tough to deny the Clippers the prize they covet.

“It’s a privilege to have expectations,” O’Connor said. “It’s an honor. We’re not scared of expectations. I’m excited we’ve got another week. I want to put it to good use.”

“We know whoever we get, it will be a heck of a match,” said Hagerty. “I’m excited to have a week to train. I’m just glad we can extend our season. I’m happy to be with this group another week. These seniors are great players and great kids.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. For game updates and links to game stories, follow him on Threads: @foresports2023

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