Waterville 5

Gorham 1

It’s over.

In one fell swoop Gorham’s title defense and 70 game unbeaten streak came to a halt on Saturday morning as the Waterville girls’ soccer team pulled off a 5-1 win in the Class A state championship game to become the first team to defeat Gorham since 2005. The Panthers avenged a 2-1 loss to the Rams in last year’s title game.

“When you win 70 games and all these championships and the balloon is just blowing tighter it will burst eventually,” said Gorham head coach Jeanne Zarrilli. “(Saturday) was the bursting. But it’s OK. Our weaknesses were exposed and we lost to a better team. Kudos to Waterville, they outplayed us and played an excellent soccer game. It’s not like we lost to someone we can feel ashamed about. We lost to an excellent soccer team.”

Early on, it looked like the game would end the same as the previous 70, with a Gorham win. Just 1:43 into the game, the Rams struck first. Following a foul just outside the box, Lauren Chouinard took the direct kick. She sent the ball toward the crowd where Rachele Burns headed it toward the net. The ball sailed over goalkeeper Taylor Hart’s head and rippled the mesh and just like the Gorham led 1-0.

“I think that was not a good thing,” said Zarrilli of the early goal. “I was nervous when we scored that early. I thought this isn’t going to work to our advantage because when we get scored on early we come back and play harder, better, faster. But when we’re up, we relax a little. You can’t relax against Waterville.”

The Panthers fought back and played like they had no concern for the score. The kept the pressure on and kept the ball in the Gorham end of the field. Eventually they got the ball to Paige Gardiner inside the box. She fired a shot toward the goal and Gorham keeper Nicole Belhumeur dove, but couldn’t get to it. The ball caromed off the post and in to tie the score.

Gorham had a chance to tie the score just 15 seconds after the goal. They managed to get the ball by the defense but Hart swooped in and smothered the ball before the Rams could get a shot.

Down at the other end of the field just a few minutes later, Waterville got their first corner kick chance of the game. And they made the most of it. Gardiner sent the ball in and Jordan Pellerin headed it past Belhumeur at the far post. That gave Waterville a 2-1 lead and it turned out to be the winning goal.

“Jordan Pellerin scored two goals off headers,” said Gorham captain Rachele Burns. “She’s a good player. As she matures and becomes a senior she’s going to be a very big threat. It was just a matter of out jumping. We had them marked; we made sure they were marked. They just got into the air higher and just finished better.”

The Panthers made it a 3-1 game shortly before halftime. On a direct kick, Gardiner put the ball near the net where Pellerin headed it over Belhumeur’s outstretched hands.

“I told my team that (Pellerin’s) headers are bullets into the back of the net,” Zarrilli said. “I said ‘we can’t leave her alone anywhere on the field.’ And sure enough, two of their goals were those bullets.”

At halftime Waterville held a two-goal advantage. But the Rams felt like they were still in the game.

“We said ‘we’ll still be in the game if we score and make it 3-2, but if they score the fourth, we’re really going to struggle,'” Zarrilli said.

Waterville did score a fourth goal. After the Rams failed to convert a couple of chances early in the second half, the Panthers put the ball in the back of the net again. This time it was Kylee Gardiner who took a pass from Stephanie Whitten and snuck a shot past a Belhumeur dive.

Waterville put one more shot in the net with just 3:16 to go. Laura Tozier hit a chip shot that trickled across the goal line to give the Panthers their 5-1 winning margin.

Gorham finished the season with a 17-1 record and their fourth straight Class A Western championship.