PORTLAND—After being frustrated last week in a tie at Falmouth, Cheverus’ girls’ soccer team made up for lost time and lost goals when it hosted city rival Portland Tuesday afternoon at Boulous Stadium.
By scoring early, often and with abandon.
The Stags needed fewer than seven minutes to go in front to stay, as senior Finley Brown scored on a header. Senior Annie Vigue then scored twice and after assisting on the first three tallies, senior Sophia Monfa got in on the fun, scoring two straight goals to make it 5-0. Junior Alaina Holmes and sophomore Taylor Hoglund struck before the first half was over and Cheverus had a stunning 7-0 advantage at the break.
Seven minutes into the second half, senior Jillian Foley buried a penalty kick and eight minutes later, sophomore Addison Rush scored as well, so by rule, when the clock hit 20 minutes with the margin eight goals or greater, the contest was stopped and the Stags had an emphatic 9-0 victory.
Monfa wound up playing a role in five of the goals and Cheverus had seven different players tickle the twine as it improved to 3-0-1 on the young season, dropping Portland to 0-4 in the process.
“It’s really satisfying,” said Stags coach Craig Roberts. “We did things the right way. We created space with runs, players filled the space, we found them in space. We played simply in the attacking third and finished our chances. In our first three games, we had tons of opportunities but we didn’t have the finishing efficiency. Today we had that.”
Bragging rights
Cheverus is out to a fast start this fall, beating host Marshwood (5-1) and host Biddeford (5-0) before settling for a 1-1 draw at Falmouth last Thursday, in a game which saw the Stags rally late to share Heal Points.
“Falmouth’s a good team,” Roberts said. “We got down, but we didn’t get down mentally.”
Portland, meanwhile, has been competitive, but hadn’t been able to break into the win column, falling at home to Falmouth (4-0), at South Portland (3-2) and at home to Gorham (4-2).
Last year, the host Stags blanked the Bulldogs, 4-0.
Tuesday, on a beautiful 79 degree afternoon, Cheverus came out sizzling and scored on 70 percent of its first half shots on frame.
The first goal came with 32:55 to go in the first half, as Vigue played a nice through ball to Monfa on the left side and Monfa crossed the ball in front to Brown, who headed it home to put the Stags in front to stay.
And they weren’t close to finished.
With 29:33 left, Monfa set up Vigue for her first goal, as Vigue completed a run and finished at the far post.
After Portland senior goalkeeper Jane Flynn denied Rush and Holmes was just off the mark, Monfa set up Vigue again for a goal off a nice cross to make it 3-0.
Monfa then scored a goal of her own with 24:58 remaining before halftime, as Brown got her the ball and she ripped a low shot past Flynn.
“We played a different formation this time and tried to capitalize on our strengths,” said Monfa. “We’re a senior-heavy group that has played club soccer. Experience is one of our strengths. We see an opportunity and we pass and we’re not selfish. That’s why we were able to score. That’s something we’ve been working on, moving the ball.”
The Bulldogs didn’t manage a first half shot, but took a corner kick midway through, which was cleared by the Cheverus defense.
The Stags then continued to pour on the offense, as Monfa scored for the second time, off a Vigue cross with 11:42 on the clock, then Brown set up Holmes for a shot that Flynn could only deflect but not stop at 8:19, and with 1:08 remaining, sophomore Olivia Vigue set up Hoglund for a high shot into the net for a commanding 7-0 advantage.
Portland had a look to get on the board early in the second half, but a free kick from sophomore Maizie Chalmers sailed high.
Then, with 32:55 to go, after a foul was called on the Bulldogs in the box, a penalty kick was awarded and Foley did the honors, beating a diving Flynn just inside the left post, as Flynn dove and got a hand on the ball, but couldn’t keep it out.
Finally, with 24:28 to play, sophomore Maddie Nalls set up Rush for the final goal of the afternoon.
When the clock hit 20 minutes, the game ended by mercy rule and Cheverus prevailed, 9-0.
“It was a very different game from Falmouth,” said Monfa. “It’s a confidence-booster.”
“We showed resilience against Falmouth and it would have been easy to have a letdown, but the girls have bought in and are working hard,” Roberts said. “We changed formation today and they executed it well with little practice.”
Monfa finished with two goals and three assists.
Annie Vigue scored twice and added an assist.
Brown had a goal and two assists.
Foley, Hoglund, Holmes and Rush also found the net.
Nalls and Olivia Vigue each had one assist, meaning nine different players had a role in the scoring.
“It was nice to have so many different scorers,” said Monfa.
“In the past, we’ve relied on 11 to 14 players, but this year, we need to play with 15 or 16, so we don’t have a drop-off in the second half like we did against Falmouth,” said Roberts. “I’m really happy with how our subs played today. Taylor Hoglund, Addy Rush and Maddie Nalls stepped up their game, played physical and contributed for us. (Junior) Briella Doherty gave Jill and Finley a break in the midfield. That’s huge.”
Senior goalkeeper Evelyn Rush had an easy game, only having to save one shot.
The Stags finished with a 14-1 advantage in shots on frame and took two corner kicks to the Bulldogs’ one.
For Portland, Flynn made five saves.
“Cheverus is a really good team,” said Bulldogs coach Matt Bernstein. “They’re well-coached, they have great players and they clearly have good chemistry going. They’ll be difficult to beat. It’s quality individual players and a team game. Not only their technical ability, but knowing where to be, the runs they make. It makes it challenging.
“Throughout the game, We learned how to react and made adjustments. That was encouraging for me to see. That’s all you can do against a really good team. I’m proud of my girls. They fought as hard as they could.”
Victory chase
Portland tries again for its first victory Thursday at home versus Thornton Academy. The Bulldogs then go to two-time reigning Class A champion Scarborough Tuesday of next week.
“We’ll keep working on things and learning,” said Bernstein. “Obviously, it would be nice to get our first win, but even when we win our first one, that’s not the end of us learning and growing. I think we’re a lot closer than maybe the score today showed and I think we’ll get there soon. I’m excited about it.”
Cheverus is back in action Thursday at Westbrook. Next week brings home tilts versus Deering and Gorham.
“The seniors know this is it,” Monfa said. “We have to have the confidence we can beat teams like Scarborough, Gorham and Windham. We’ve gotten really close.”
“I think we’re on schedule,” said Roberts. “I don’t want to jinx it, but we’re playing the way we have to play to compete against top tier teams. We have Gorham next week. That’s our second top tier game. First, we have to take care of business against Westbrook and Deering. We just have to play the game that’s in front of us and the girls are doing a really good of that.”
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