HAMPDEN — Dan Ornstein scored three first-half goals as Scarborough rolled to a 4-0 win over Mt. Ararat to capture the Class A boys’ soccer championship Saturday morning.
“I woke up hoping I would do well,” said Ornstein, a senior forward who scored four goals in 14 regular-season games. “I just gave it my best, played hard, and it paid off.”
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“Dan has been getting better all year,” Scarborough Coach Mark Diaz said. “We just knew he was going to explode, and he just exploded today.”
Ornstein scored 90 seconds into the game, curling a shot from the right side inside the left post, just out of the grasp of diving keeper Gabe Pelletier.
Less than eight minutes into the game, Ornstein made it 2-0 after winning a battle with Pelletier for control of the ball. Pelletier came out to break up a run by Ornstein and managed to knock the ball away temporarily, but Ornstein lifted the rebound toward the goal.
“I saw the goalie where he wasn’t supposed to be, and I just put it on the net,” Ornstein said.
Midfielder Dan Purinton leaped to head the ball away from the open net but couldn’t keep it from going in.
“The first 10 minutes we just weren’t ready, and that was the difference,” Mt. Ararat Coach Rick Renaud said.
The Eagles (15-2-1) played less than 48 hours after their 2-1 overtime win against Lewiston in the Eastern Maine final Thursday night.
“I knew it was going to be tough to (have) one day to prepare after that game, and I was worried,” Renaud said. “To play with (Scarborough), we were going to have to really pressure, mark and think. None of those happened.”
The Red Storm (16-0-2) never let up.
“We definitely played our game today in the first half,” Said Sam Cekada, a junior forward. “We were ready. We brought it to them.”
“We pressure the ball, and I roll a lot of players in, and we try to come after you,” Diaz said.
Ornstein completed his hat trick with 12.5 seconds left in the first half. Cekada sent a cross from the right wing, and Ornstein ran onto the ball and scored from 10 yards out.
“It was a great ball by Cekada.” Ornstein said. “He plays them all the time, and I just went to where the ball was.”
Austin Downing completed the scoring in the final minute of the game when he converted a pass from midfielder Charlie Mader into a breakaway goal.
Diaz said the victory wasn’t as easy as the score indicated.
“They’re so good in the air, Mt. Ararat, and their work ethic is second to none,” the coach said. “I was proud of the guys. That’s the best we’ve done in the air all year. We’ve done well, but against a team like that, with some size and the effort they put in, that was pretty good.”
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
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