Less than 24 hours before the Gorham girls were to take the field in the Class A soccer state championship game, a bunch of the players were on the high school field, spontaneously attempting to keep the ball aloft using just their heads.

The team was warming up before their final practice, but Friday’s gray skies couldn’t put a damper on their enthusiasm, and the pressure of the big game didn’t seem to bother them. Screams, laughter and dancing were the order of the day.

“We’re always loose,” said Alison Feibel, one of five Rams seniors attending their final soccer practice. The others were Kathryn Cyr, Anna Willis, Emily Jenkins and Courtney Macleod.

“It’s sad because it’s our last time with this team,” Feibel said, “but it’s thrilling, knowing that we have our big game tomorrow.”

Not only was the quintet about to play in the Class A title game in Gorham’s first year at that level, but the group had been part of last year’s Class B championship team, the first-ever for the school’s girls soccer program.

“Everybody’s very competitive and just has a refuse-to-lose attitude,” said Cyr, “and that makes every game count, whether it’s a big game or not.”

The girls point to the relationships among team members on and off the field as a factor in their success.

“The friendships that we’ve made over the years,” MacLeod said, “not just with the seniors, but with the team – we bring that to the field.”

The Rams had done quite a bit of running during the week between the regional final and the state championship, and they had scrimmaged Falmouth as well. Coach Jeanne Zarrilli was content to have the girls take it relatively easy the day before the match-up with eastern Maine champ Bangor.

But the Rams were out there, even as the sky grew darker and the air chillier – running around, kicking the ball and laughing.

“It’s a thrill to know that we’ve played into November two years in a row,” said Feibel, “and we didn’t come this far to lose.”