SCARBOROUGH — The Scarborough field hockey team cruised to a 4-1 win over visiting Biddeford in the Class A South quarterfinals, Wednesday.

The Red Storm jumped to a big first half, which would eventually be enough to secure the win.

Lily Nygren would get the Red Storm on the board, scoring with 17:35 remaining in the first half.

Scarborough dominated the possession battle throughout the first half, applying constant pressure to the Biddeford defense while stifling its offensive attack.

“I know a bunch of them came to watch our (Thornton Academy) game, so coming in they knew our style of play. We like to use our speed to our advantage, and when we can’t get it to our players with the speed it’s a huge setback,” said Biddeford coach Caitlin Albert. “They put the pressure on, eliminated the first passes and made it hard.”

Despite maintaining control for much of the opening half, Scarborough had trouble getting the ball past Biddeford goalie Taylor Wildes, who recorded seven first-half saves for the Tigers.

“She’s mentally tough – she’s the glue to our team, she really is. I’m not surprised by it and we value it very much,” said Albert.

The Red Storm would take control of the game in the final two minutes of the half, getting goals in a 50-second span by Kristen Levesque and Rachel Paradis to take a 3-0 lead into the break.

Levesque would score her second goal of the contest less than eight minutes into the second half, putting the game out of reach for the Tigers.

Biddeford would get the last laugh however, getting a goal with 2:31 remaining from Rebekah Guay to break up the shutout bid.

Although the Tigers’ ended their season on a low note, Albert was happy with the progress her team made throughout the course of the year, considering 11 of the players are underclassmen.

“It’s like ten fold – earlier this season we were more of a run-and-gun team, but lately we have been passing the ball and using each other as a team to win,” said Albert. “It’s hard to emphasize the pass game to such a young team since they are not used to it, but it will be good for the future.”

The Tigers hope that Wednesday’s loss will be a good experience for them, and will help prepare them for what is down the road.

“Now they know what they’re capable of, Scarborough came out with (nine) seniors that wanted to make it to the finals and they showed it,” said Albert. “It’s tough having a group where the bulk of the players are freshmen and sophomores facing a group with mostly seniors. (Scarborough) felt that they had everything to lose, we felt that we had nothing to lose. We need to add a bit more spark in the future.”

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at sports@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.