Westbrook’s boys soccer team won nine consecutive games before finally being knocked out of the post season, 2-1, by Greely in the Western Class A semifinals last Thursday.

The Blue Blazes, the top seed in the West, had made it past Cape Elizabeth in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks. But at home against the Rangers, they couldn’t overcome a 2-0 halftime lead by the visitors.

Greely reached the scoreboard first when Greg Frost scored from close range on a penalty kick with just 2:23 left in the first half. But probably more painful was Frost’s header after a nice cross with just 1:05 left before the break.

Westbrook picked up the pace in the second half and closed the lead to 2-1 when Travis Rand assisted on Jim Siulinski’s header with 23:39 left in the game.

The Blue Blazes had several more gallant attempts in the final half, including Chad Cleaves’ narrow miss on a drive halfway through the period and Rand’s unsuccessful try a couple of minutes later. But Greely keeper Oliver Blum, who came on as a substitute in the second half, was helped by his defenders in preserving the victory.

Greely went on to fall 1-0 to Scarborough in the Western Class A finals two days later.

Westbrook’s loss to Greely was a disappointing end to a strong run by the Blue Blazes, who will lose 10 seniors to graduation, including captains Cleaves and Kevin Lessard and brothers Jim and Jack Siulinski, Erik Born, Alex Baillargeon, Trevor Jenkins, Jordan Rich, Jason Aceto and T.J. Kelley.

But the team also featured a skilled corps of younger players including freshmen Galen Perkins (the starting goal keeper), Matt Foye, Ben Grubb and Tyler Rand, who will team with a talented sophomore and junior class to fill the void next season.

Born, a swing player who also filled in at goal during penalty kick situations, said the loss was tough, but the accomplishments were satisfying.

“I’m happy to have been a part of it (this fall’s team),” he said. “We came into the season and we looked at ourselves and asked, ‘what can this team do?’ Then we won a couple of games and got a little confidence going.

“We have guys who are fast, guys with great foot skills and guys with great intensity,” he said. “And we have great team players. We brought it all together, but we didn’t go quite far enough.”

Westbrook finished the season 13-3.