The regular season ended Tuesday for nearly half of Maine’s 126 high school girls’ soccer teams.
While 12 teams will play preliminary-round games Friday, teams that qualified for regional quarterfinals will have to wait six days before their first playoff games.
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Some coaches see this dormant period as a welcome break, a time to prepare their teams for a tournament run.
Other coaches, in an effort to keep their players in the right frame of mind, have scheduled a scrimmage.
There are two schools of thought.
“In past years I’ve had a scrimmage and sometimes I haven’t,” Greely Coach Michael Kennedy said. “This team is peaking right now. For us, there really isn’t much to be gained by having a scrimmage.”
The Rangers, the third-ranked team in Western Class A, are riding a nine-game unbeaten streak.
Sacopee Valley, the second-ranked team in Western Class C, also doesn’t intend to scrimmage before its first tournament game Tuesday.
“I plan on working on some of the things that we identified through our games that we need to work on as a team to get better,” Coach Kevin Murphy said.
“You can do a little bit more team-wise, I think, when you have a break like this versus the individual things that you have to get to when you have a very short practice time in between games.”
The Hawks will be making their fifth consecutive tournament appearance.
Unbeaten Scarborough, the top-ranked team in Western Class A, will go on the road to scrimmage Yarmouth, the top-ranked team in Western Class B.
“We always try to get a good scrimmage in,” Scarborough Coach Mike Farley said. “Last year we played Falmouth. This year we’re going to play Yarmouth. Playing scrimmages against very strong playoff teams kind of keeps you sharp.”
Some coaches like to keep their teams on the same competitive schedule established in the regular season.
“We don’t have prelims in Class B so instead of taking the week off, we try to get a scrimmage in the middle of the week,” Yarmouth Coach Rich Smith said. “During the regular season, we kind of go two or three days and have a game. We’re going to try to keep that up.”
Before their regional tournaments, four of the top teams in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference will get a chance to play a meaningful game.
The far-flung 29-team league schedules championship games in its Class A and Class B divisions.
“I’d rather play a game than not play a game,” Brunswick Coach Martyn Davidson said. “At this time of year, what more are we going to do at training? We’re ready to play.”
At 3 p.m. Saturday, defending Class A state champion Brunswick (14-0-0) will play Bangor (13-0-1) for the KVAC Class A championship at Lawrence High in Fairfield. The teams didn’t meet in the regular season.
Today, Camden Hills (12-2) plays Leavitt (11-2-1) at 3 p.m. for the KVAC Class B girls’ soccer championship at the CARA Complex on the Piggery Road in Augusta.
On Sept. 15, Camden Hills, the second-ranked team in the final Eastern Class B Heal point standings, eked out a 2-1 win against the Hornets, the third-ranked team in Western Class B, at Turner.
Also today, Georges Valley of Thomaston plays unbeaten St. Dominic for the Mountain Valley Conference girls’ soccer championship at 3 p.m. at Hosmer Field in Rumford.
The Buccaneers, the defending Class C state champions, are 12-1-1, and the Saints, the top-ranked team in Western Class C, are 13-0-1. The teams didn’t meet during the regular season.
DAVID LEVASSEUR has stepped down as head coach of the Portland girls’ soccer team.
“The kids have been great. The parents have been great. It’s just time for a change,” he said.
Levasseur, who teaches English at the high school, had served as head coach for nine seasons.
For five seasons before that, he coached the school’s boys’ junior varsity.
THORNTON ACADEMY’S Sydney Proctor had to make just two saves Monday to post her school-record ninth shutout of the season in a 2-0 victory against McAuley.
A senior, Proctor has a school-record 22 career shutouts in 21/2 seasons as the starting goalie.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com
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