Fall sports season comes to a close- Southern edition

The abbreviated 2020 fall sports season was coming to a close at press time with just a few more games scheduled, as well as the cross country state meet.

While the campaign has been anything but traditional, it has been memorable and last week saw more triumph from local squads.

Here’s a look back:

Boys’ soccer

Cape Elizabeth junior Tiernan Lathrop tries to get past Scarborough senior Aidan Joyce during last Saturday’s contest. The Red Storm eked out a 3-2 victory.

South Portland’s boys’ soccer team was gearing up at press time to play Portland in the final of the “City Cup” Thursday. The Red Riots, who lost, 3-0, at Portland last Saturday, Monday went to Deering for a City Cup semifinal and outlasted the Rams, 2-1 (4-3 on penalty kicks), to advance.

Scarborough improved to 6-1-1 last Saturday with a hard-fought 3-2 win at Cape Elizabeth. The Red Storm jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of nearly identical goals from Zander Haskell, both assisted by Ryan Stimson.

“(Ryan and I) just seem to work together really well and find the back of the net,” Haskell said. “I was just trying to go far corner.”

After the Capers rallied to tie it up, Alan King put Scarborough back on top with 18:36 to go and the Red Storm went on to victory.

“We let in an easy goal and that put us down a little bit, but we’re mentally tough though and we didn’t let up,” Stimson said. “We just stayed in the middle and kept them out wide.”

“I was really proud of the guys today,” said longtime Scarborough coach Mark Diaz, who now has 281 victories in his 22 years with the program. “On the road, giving up the two goals like that and losing momentum, coming back and answering the bell.”

The Red Storm are going to play in a four-team tournament of their own, along with Gorham, Windham and reigning Class A champion Falmouth. Friday, Scarborough is at Windham. If victorious, the Red Storm will meet the Falmouth-Gorham for the title next week. If it loses to the Eagles, Scarborough will face the Falmouth-Gorham loser in a consolation game.

“Hopefully we can have a little fun,” Diaz added. “We’re excited to play some good teams. We’re lucky to still be playing.”

Cape Elizabeth’s season ended at 2-5-1 after its 3-2 home loss to Scarborough. The Capers erased a two-goal deficit behind goals from Egan Doherty and Nic Boudreau, but fell short.

“I think our guys have played well against really outstanding competition,” Cape Elizabeth coach Ben Raymond said. “It’s good to play these types of teams and see how we measure up. I think it was a pretty even soccer game. Both teams had chances. They had two nice goals, then we scored and it wasn’t the prettiest. We had some great opportunities to get more. The kids should be really pleased with how they played tonight.

“I think things went pretty well this year. I’m happy we got this far. In a lot of ways, it was a great season. Having one game a week was great for practice purposes. We got to train more than any other year and the kids improved from the beginning to the end.”

The Capers will now look ahead to 2020.

“We lose a good bit, but we have a huge sophomore group that got a ton of experience in practice this year,” Raymond said. “They’ll be ready next year and understand what the expectations are. We have a good group of freshmen. Numbers are great. Good kids. Hopefully it will be a normal season.”

Girls’ soccer

On the girls’ side, two-time reigning Class B champion Cape Elizabeth was scheduled to finish its season at Yarmouth Monday, but that game was postponed. The Capers won their first seven contests this fall by a combined 33-1 margin.

Scarborough improved to 4-3-1 and extended its win streak to three games after downing host Falmouth, 1-0, Monday. The Red Storm hosted Thornton Academy Thursday.

South Portland fell to 2-6 after a 3-0 home loss to Portland last Friday. The Red Riots welcomed Cheverus Wednesday (see pressherald.com/forecaster-sports/ for game story) and close at Portland Friday.

Field hockey

Scarborough’s field hockey team finished 7-2 and closed on a five-game win streak after blanking visiting Greely (1-0) and Gorham (2-0) and winning at Biddeford (2-1). Against the Tigers, Avni Bhatnagar and Ayden Harris scored the goals.

“I thought this season went excellent considering the circumstances,” said longtime Red Storm coach Kerry Mariello. “We were able to play in nine very competitive games and the girls being as young as they were, were able to get the varsity experience they needed without the added pressure to have to win or fight for playoff spots. We showed progression, we showed the ability to overcome adverse situations and we showed some serious fight, but ultimately we had the best time together. This team is special and this season will most definitely be a memorable one.”

South Portland finished 2-5-1 after an 11-1 home loss to Cheverus last week.

Cape Elizabeth finished its season 3-4-1.

Cross country

The Western Maine Conference held its cross country state meet qualifier last week.

In the Class B boys’ race, Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ and girls’ teams both qualified after the Capers girls’ squad finished first among eight teams and featured the top individual, freshman Hadley Mahoney, who posted a time of 19 minutes, 49.18 seconds. The boys were second to Greely and were paced by fourth-place individual Vaughn Lindenau (16:45.64).

The state meet is next week in Bangor.