Senior Cady Houghton added two Gorham goals as the Rams cruised to a 5-1 victory over South Portland on Saturday morning, Sept. 12.

“Quickness, our ball movement,” said Gorham head coach Jeanne Zarillia, when asked what gave her girls the edge. “Finishing didn’t happen in the first half – we only scored one – but we talked about how to do a better job of that, because South Portland was really making things difficult for us in the box; we had to work around that, so…field switching. And I thought we executed a lot better there, in the second half.”

“We held ourselves back,” said South Portland head coach Jeff Selser. “We’re working hard at, sort of, turning the program around. But that takes a lot of time. So we’ve got good periods – a lot of really, really great soccer out there – but we are not yet able to sustain that for 80 minutes.

“So we’ll have 10, 15 minutes where we’re not at the same level we need to be, and with a team like Gorham, they’re going to capitalize on those. Other teams aren’t going to be as punishing as Gorham is; Gorham is an extremely well put-together team. They’re very talented, they move the ball around well, they communicate beautifully. There’s only going to be two or three other teams out there that capitalize on those little let-downs.

Junior Meghan Perrin contributed the Rams’ third point, and two second-stringers, Michelle Rowe and Courtney Cushing, tallied their fourth and fifth points, respectively.

“We’re starting to have some depth as well,” said Zarilli. “The next string, they’ve been working really hard and they’re holding their own when they go out there. I really like that.”

Riots senior Mary Cronin notched South Portland’s goal in the 78th minute. It was the team’s first score of the season.

“I’m proud of how our team played,” said Selser. “There was a lot of good attacking motion, the ball movement was good. A lot of things we’re working on, I’m starting to see on the field. We just need to keep our confidence up and keep our eye, sort of, on the end goal, which is moving the program forward for the long term.”

Gorham advances to 3-0 on the season. The Rams travel to Scarborough (2-0-1) on Tuesday the 15th, and host Bonny Eagle (2-1) on Friday the 18th. South Portland, now 0-2, welcomes Bonny Eagle on Wednesday the 16th.

South Portland’s Mary Cronin crashes over Gorham’s Maddie Hincher as the two vie for a ball in the second half of their teams’ matchup on Saturday morning, Sept. 12.Gorham’s Caitlin Chasse and South Portland’s Sophie Chase tangle for control during Gorham’s 5-1 home victory over the Riots on Saturday morning.Ram Courtney Cushing rips an off-angle shot – one that would momentarily find the back of the net – at the South Portland cage on Saturday morning.South Portland’s Stephanie Aceto steps in to interrupt as Gorham’s Elizabeth Sullivan cleats a ball toward the Riots’ goal.