Scarborough thundered to an early lead over Falmouth in Wednesday night’s A West Championship, then maintained control throughout. In the first five minutes alone, Elizabeth Gross picked up two and Samantha Shoebottom tallied one.

After that, the Red Storm cruised to a 7-0 W.

“We told the girls, ‘We need to go out there and pop a few goals in quickly,” Scarborough head coach Caitlin Cashman said. “Take the wind out of their sails.”

“The speeches she gives sometimes,” Gross said of Cashman, “really pump me up. Just go as hard as you can, right off the bat, shut ‘em down.”

Scarborough, now 20-0 on the season, advances to Saturday night’s state final against Lewiston, who defeated Leavitt/Edward Little 2-0 for the A East crown. The puck drops at 7 p.m. at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.

Cashman didn’t expect to beat the Yachtsmen by such a huge margin. “We just went out there saying, ‘Take it shift by shift, carry by carry, shoot with a purpose – because Falmouth is a gritty, hardworking team…You’ve to be able to finish, and [we] were able to finish tonight.”

Senior forward Rachel Wallace was also surprised by the Red Storm’s lopsided victory. “Whenever we play Falmouth, they come to play. So I was expecting it to be a bit closer game. Obviously, every team hopes they can win by that much.”

Falmouth managed to even out play in the latter part of the first period, generating a handful of solid opportunities as the clock ticked toward zero. Red Storm goalie Devan Kane proved unbeatable, however. The one puck that bounced over her, even appeared to slide in the net, must not have crossed the goal line, as the attendant official waved it off.

Scarborough turned some additional pretty plays themselves, before the first buzzer. Riley McKeown whirled through a spin-move to divide the Falmouth defense in the slot and pull the trigger on a backhander in close. McKeown didn’t score just then, but the thrilling display of footwork and puckhandling foreshadowed the dominance her team would exert in the second.

Building a big lead can lull teams into false security, but not Scarborough. Gross felt that she and her roster-mates might have let up here and there – but never for long. “We might have [relaxed], at some points, but then we just stepped it right back up.”

The Red Storm kept play mostly in the Yachtsmen’s end for the middle 15 minutes, even attacking on the penalty-kill. They made it 4-0 when Gross broke up the right side of the ice and dished left for Shoebottom as Shoebottom crashed in on Falmouth keeper Hilary Nash. Shoebottom redirected; whether off her skate or off her stick, the puck jumped in the net.

Shoebottom scored again, shorthanded, just over two minutes later, when she intercepted a bad Yachtsmen pass in front of their net. One-on-one with Nash, Shoebottom made it 5-0.

Not thirty seconds after that, Alyssa Hulst picked up a loose puck in a scramble on Nash’s doorstep, shoveling it into the goal for 6-0.

Halfway through the third, Shoebottom iced Scarborough’s 7-0 cake.

Minor infractions and even a five-minute major riddled a rough game, though Cashman was prepared for physicality. “Our game with them a couple weeks ago was pretty aggressive, so we were expecting for them to come out hard. The calling of the game was interesting, but sometimes you’ve got to work through it and keep your head up and kill off penalties.”

“Again, whenever we play Falmouth,” Wallace said of the heavy contact, “they come to play. We always, not ‘butt heads’ – well, I guess we do. It pushes us to be the best we can be, and makes us have a good mental game, and calm down, and try not to retaliate.”

Naturally, Cashman has thoughts already on Lewiston. “They’ve got great size, they play really aggressive, their breaktout was really, really strong. I think…we need to be just as aggressive, use our speed and our forecheck.”

Gross had thoughts on strategy too, but summed up her feelings most succinctly when she said, “It’s going to be a fun game.”

Scarborough’s Elizabeth Gross, just a freshman, drives forward with the puck. Gross had two goals and an assist in the Red Storm’s 7-0 victory over Falmouth for the A West crown.Scarborough’s Lily Nygren dashes up ice in Wednesday’s Western Maine Class A Championship matchup with Falmouth.Scarborough senior captains Devan Kane (left) and Brenna Kent confer during a break in the action.Samantha Shoebottom breaks between the boards and a Falmouth defender Wednesday night. Shoebottom had four of Scarborough’s seven goals.Alyssa Hulst of Scarborough holds the puck out, away from a Falmouth defender.The ecstatic Red Storm line up after their victory over Falmouth to receive their A West Championship awards.Scarborough hoists their A West Championship plaque after besting Falmouth, 7-0.