KENNEBUNK — It happened so fast, Gorham girls’ soccer Coach Jeanne Zarrilli said. That’s what Emmie Flaker does.
Flaker is fast. The Scarborough junior is the reigning SMAA outdoor track and field champion in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 300 hurdles. Tuesday, as fans at Kennebunk High settled in for what could be a long set of overtime periods in the Class A South girls’ soccer final, Flaker used that speed to end the game barely into the extra session.
Flaker took a pass from Delia Fravert, sprinted past a Gorham defender, and scored the winning goal 57 seconds into overtime, lifting the Red Storm to a 3-2 win and a chance to defend their Class A state title.
“We try to do through balls leading me because I can use my speed to my advantage. I was just trying to kick it to goal,” Flaker said.
Scarborough, now 16-1, will take on North champ Bangor (16-1) Saturday at Messalonskee High in Oakland in the Class A state championship game. Gorham ends the season at 13-2-2, with both losses coming to Scarborough.
“Emmie’s got speed for days,” said Mike Farley, Scarborough’s coach. “The good thing about that was, the defender was there. (Flaker) poked the ball by her and ran by her. To finish that with the goalkeeper coming out, that’s next level for Emmie and I’m really happy for her. She worked hard the last couple years to refine the soccer side of it.”
For the better part of the game, it appeared overtime would be a fantasy. The Red Storm took a 1-0 lead with 15:11 left in the first half when Lana Djuranovic headed in a Fravert corner kick. It appeared Fravert’s corner kick was going to go too long to give the Djuanovic a chance to do anything with it, but the University of Miami-bound senior was able to get off a header and find the net.
“I knew the wind was going a certain way and the ball was going to be far out, so I started far out. Then I just jumped really high I guess,” Djuranovic said.
With 14:27 left in the game, Maggie Booth’s goal on a high shot from 20 yards out gave Scarborough a 2-0 lead.
Gorham, which scored late in its regional quarterfinal game to beat Sanford, then scored late in last week’s semifinal win to tie Windham before winning on penalty kicks, didn’t back down facing a two-goal deficit. Just 42 seconds after Booth’s goal, Ashley Connolly scored on a penalty kick to cut Scarborough’s lead to 2-1. Connolly went to lower left corner for the goal that gave the Rams momentum.
“We’ve battled all season. The fact that we can come back and fight, I’m extremely proud of all of them. Scarborough’s a phenomenal team, and it took a lot to battle them,” Zarrilli said.
With 3:45 left in the second half, Gorham’s Lindy Moreland jumped on a loose ball in the goalie box when Scarborough was unable to clear it, scoring to tie the game at 2-2. The offensive pressure the Rams sustained over the final 10 minutes of the second half was the most pressure the Red Storm had seen all season, Farley said.
“I think I was in shock a little bit. That was very impressive. Gorham, give credit to them. Being down 2-0 and still fighting, that’s very impressive,” Djuranovic said.
With just over a minute left in regulation, Djuranovic, who 10 minutes into the second half had a shot hit the crossbar, had a chance to give Scarborough the lead, but Gorham’s Sawyer VonderHaar made the save. VonerHaar made five saves for the Rams, while Sophia Rinaldi stopped five shots for Scarborough.
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