Despite another outstanding performance by Gorhamite Marina Pappalardo – this one a five-goaler – visiting South Portland battled successfully back from a deep deficit to overcome the Rams 11-10 in double-OT last Wednesday, June 8.

“I knew it was going to be the closest postseason game we’ve had here in my five years,” said Gorham head coach Mary Guimond, “and I was excited for that – because we’ve gotten blown out in the past four years.”

Gorham rolled to a huge early lead on Pappalardo’s prowess.

“We started strong; Marina had a lot of goals, again,” said Guimond. “They clamped down on her, which took some getting used to. We weren’t able to score quite as readily after that.”

“They have a lot of girls, but Marina’s the big one,” said South Portland head coach Leslie Dyer. “We knew if we took out the stud, we could handle the rest … We knew that, if she touched that ball, it’s going in the net. So I had to face-guard her.”

Meanwhile, the Rams’ ferocious defense kept the Riots well away from netminder Allison Sinnett.

 “11 is the most goals we’ve had scored on us all season,” said Guimond, “so our defense has done really well this year.”

“That defense, my girls struggle with it,” said Dyer. “We spent two, three days working on that, and still, first half of the game, they shut us down. We couldn’t break it.”

Dyer’s attackers finally began to bust up the Gorham perimeter as they realized they needed to move the ball quicker. “That’s what broke the defense. We knew it would [have to be] fast passes,”  Dyer said. 

South Portland’s adjustments worked. They slowly dug themselves out of their hole, and with barely three seconds remaining in regulation, Riot Jenna Leckie tied the game at 10 apiece.

“It was intense,” Guimond said. “South Portland came back from, I think 9-4 or 9-5 … and had a really nice goal with three seconds left in regulation. They definitely had the momentum, going into overtime.”

After a taut, but scoreless, OT1, Mary Cronin tallied the final point mere seconds into OT2. Maddie Hasson assisted.

Guimond enumerated a number of additional factors that contributed to the shift in momentum.

“They had the energy,” she said of South Portland. “They seemed to want it more, towards the end. I know our girls wanted it, but sometimes, for us, that doesn’t manifest well in play – we want it so much, I think we take ourselves out of the game.”

“The draws were huge,” Guimond said. “That’s kind of a point of weakness for us, and they were winning a lot of the draws.”

Finally, Guimond praised South Portland’s standout threats: “And they’ve got two real hard hitters, [Cronin and Hasson], who played really well for them and came through when they needed to.”

Rams Emma Smith, Amelia Pappalardo, Athena Pappalardo, Audrey Perreault and Jen Darasz each added one goal in the outing. Gorham entered the playoffs ranked No. 4 at 7-5, and thus finished their 2016 at 7-6.

Guimond expressed pride in her girls at the end of their season. “We’ve had some obstacles we’ve had to overcome this year,” she said, “and I’m so proud of our girls for how they’ve handled that and come back from it.

“We were a very young team; going into [the season], we didn’t know what we were going to get, but we ended up with pretty strong program … and I don’t think a lot of people expected that.”

Gorham’s Kayla Stickney cuts cross-field in her team’s postseason matchup with visiting South Portland on June 8.

Gorhamite Amelia Pappalardo added one for her team vs. South Portland on June 8.

Gorham keeper Allison Sinnett tracks an incoming ball.

The Riots celebrate their 11-10 win over Gorham last Wednesday.

South Portlander Molly Walker, pushing forward on the attack, splits a pair of Gorham opponents.

South Portland’s Maddie Hasson looks to hand off the ball before an onrushing herd of Rams surrounds her.