Greely girls fight off Falmouth to move to 11-0

CUMBERLAND—Staying perfect isn’t easy, but Greely’s girls’ soccer team keeps finding a way to answer every challenge.

Monday evening at Hutchins Field, the high-flying Rangers’ attack was held in check by visiting Falmouth’s solid defensive effort for most of the first half, but you can’t hold Greely down forever and with 7:07 to go before halftime, sophomore Caroline Swaney rocketed a shot past Yachtsmen junior goalkeeper Adelaide Cooke for a 1-0 lead.

Falmouth had its chances to pull even in the second half, but couldn’t produce the equalizer and with 19:52 to play, Greely senior standout Jocelyn Mitiguy tucked home a perfectly placed shot for some breathing room and the Rangers went on to a 2-0 victory.

Greely made it 11 wins in a row this fall, further cemented the top seed in Class B South, continued its best start in 13 seasons and dropped the Yachtsmen to 5-4-2 in the process.

“There’s always pressure when you’re undefeated,” said Rangers coach Josh Muscadin. “No one will take us lightly. It comes with the territory.”

Holiday special

The teams were originally supposed to play this game Sept. 29, but it was moved to Monday evening and had center stage as the only game in the area.

While Greely has been unstoppable this fall, Falmouth has been very competitive as well.

The Rangers started by blanking visiting Fryeburg Academy, 5-0, in their opener, then impressed with victories over visiting Yarmouth (6-3) and at Falmouth (4-2). The good times kept rolling with wins at Gray-New Gloucester (3-1), at home over Kennebunk (4-1) and Cape Elizabeth (1-0) and at Freeport (4-1). After passing another home test, blanking York, 2-0, Greely enjoyed a 4-1 victory at Kennebunk, then made a powerful statement with a 4-1 win at Cape Elizabeth.

The Yachtsmen opened with a 7-0 home win over Gray-New Gloucester, then won at Kennebunk, 5-0, before falling at home to Greely, 4-2. After a 2-0 victory at Waynflete, Falmouth lost at Cape Elizabeth, 1-0, settled for a 1-1 home tie versus York, then crushed host Poland, 9-0. After a 1-1 tie at Yarmouth, the Yachtsmen blanked visiting Cape Elizabeth, 1-0, then lost at York, 1-0.

Entering Monday’s encounter, since the start of the 2001 campaign, Falmouth held a 15-10 edge, with four game ending in ties (see sidebar, below).

On a pleasantly warm evening, the Yachtsmen were hoping for a Heal Points-rich victory, but the Rangers kept their train rolling.

Falmouth came out hot and created a couple good chances, but senior captain Marcy Kittredge headed sophomore Cali Wiberg’s free kick wide and after Greely sophomore Katie Steinberg broke up a rush from Yachtsmen senior captain Tyler Spence, Kittredge shot wide again.

Falmouth’s defense then showed its stuff, by preventing Greely from its patented breakaways.

Senior Emma England broke up a pass from Mitiguy to freshman sensation Anna DeWolfe at the last second, a blast by Swaney was tipped out by Cooke, DeWolfe headed a corner kick wide and England stopped a rush by Rangers senior Izzy Hutnak.

After Mitiguy sent a 35-yard free kick just high and Steinberg broke up a pass from Spence to sophomore Amelia Waite, Cooke had to deny shots from junior Ellie Schad and Hutnak.

In the 20th minute, on a Greely corner kick, the hosts almost took the lead when a header was ticketed for just inside the far post, but Yachtsmen junior defender Meg Dye cleared it from harm’s way.

Falmouth junior Olivia Tapley broke up a DeWolfe feed to Schad and England broke up a Schad rush, but with 7:07 left before the break, the Rangers finally found the net.

The play began innocently as Schad brought the ball up the right sideline and when her angle was cut off, she passed back to Steinberg, who sent the ball into the box where Mitiguy used her body to sent it to Swaney, who one-timed a blast just to Cooke’s right and into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

“Falmouth came out strong and ready to win,” said Mitiguy. “We came out not thinking we’d beat them, but we didn’t come out with our heads in the game. Once we got our heads in the game, we shifted momentum. They marked us tight and they have a speedy center-back. That was tough on us.”

“Their defense held up,” said Muscadin. “When you’re going against five in the back, it’s tough. We kept forcing it instead of relaxing and dishing it off. It took awhile. Caroline has come through. It’s great to see different players scoring. That says a lot about our team.”

Greely put seven shots on frame to two for Falmouth in the first half. A half dozen Cooke saves prevented the Rangers, who had a 3-1 edge in corner kicks, from leading by more.

Early in the second half, the Yachtsmen saw junior Lucy Mahoney shoot wide and they had a corner kick opportunity as well, but it was headed out.

After Schad had a shot saved by Cooke, Mahoney had another look, but Greely senior goalkeeper Maddie Cyr made the save and moments later, Falmouth earned a corner kick only to see the ball headed away.

The Rangers then returned to the attack and were rewarded with a second goal.

With 20:20 left, Greely earned a corner kick. The ball was cleared out, then sent back in and the linesman raised his flag to signal offsides. The ball was again sent out of the box and the flag was lowered. Rangers senior Susannah Jacobson then won a 50-50 ball and the ball came to Mitiguy in front and she fired a low blast that a diving Cooke couldn’t save, pushing the lead to 2-0 with 19:52 remaining.

“I think they were going to call offsides, then the ball came over to me and I sent it in,” Mitiguy said. “A 2-0 lead is the hardest lead to hold, so we had to keep going.”

“Jocelyn had a beautiful shot, “Muscadin said. “She placed it well.”

Falmouth had one final chance to get back in the game, but freshman Delaney Goodell shot wide and Greely finished off its 2-0 victory.

The Rangers had an 11-5 shots advantage, a 4-2 edge in corner kicks and got five saves from Cyr.

“Maddie is doing an awesome job and so have our defenders,” Mitiguy said. “That carries throughout the whole field.”

The Yachtsmen got nine saves from Cooke and played very well for much of the game, but wound up with nothing to show for it.

“I was happy with everybody’s performance,” said Falmouth coach Andrew Pelletier. “We worked hard and played good soccer. That’s all I can ask for. I thought we possessed the ball the majority of the game. We just made two mistakes and they’re a good team. You can’t make mistakes. I can’t expect perfect soccer for 80 minutes and we made mistakes at bad times. We had a couple chances early in the second half and when they got the second one, the girls got deflated a little bit, but we kept attacking.”

Chasing perfection

Falmouth (now sixth in the Class A South Heal Points standings) hopes to bounce back Tuesday versus Freeport, then welcomes Kennebunk Thursday and closes at home against Yarmouth Tuesday of next week.

“We’d love to go 3-0 to finish out the season,” Pelletier said. “We don’t really care where we go into playoffs. We’re not even looking at Heal Points. We want to go in healthy and playing good soccer and we’re on the right road right now.”

Greely, meanwhile, has a shot to do something the program has never done, produce an undefeated, untied season (the 2000 squad went 12-0-1 and won the Class A championship, but did have the one tie on its resume). The Rangers (first in Class B South) have their Senior Night home finale Tuesday against Lake Region, then close with two tough road tests, against Yarmouth Saturday and York Tuesday of next week.

After losing to Cape Elizabeth in each of the past two regional finals, Greely is ready to finish the job.

“We can’t let it go to our heads that we’re undefeated and we have to keep working hard,” Mitiguy said. “There’s pressure, but not as much pressure in the regular season as there will be in the playoffs. We want to keep raising the bar for ourselves. The senior class has been together forever. We’re really tight and we really want it. We hope to go all the way this year.”

“We don’t dwell on the past, but the seniors feel that it’s time,” Muscadin said. “We hope everyone stays healthy and we’ll keep going. If we play the way we play versus the way the other teams want us to play, that will help us.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

Two of the region’s best players, Falmouth senior Tyler Spence and Greely freshman Anna DeWolfe, battle for the ball during the teams’ showdown Monday night. The Rangers prevailed, 2-0, and stayed undefeated on the season.

Chris Lambert photos.