SCARBOROUGH—If this was the year that Scarborough’s girls’ soccer team was supposed to be vulnerable, the Red Storm never got the memo.

Or they disregarded it altogether.

Friday evening at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex, in a highly entertaining Class A South semifinal versus longtime rival Gorham, Scarborough, the two-time reigning state champion, got big plays from veterans and newcomers alike to take a big step toward another coronation.

The second-seeded Red Storm, who won at third-ranked Gorham, 4-0, just a little over a week ago, knew that this time around, the Rams would give them a much more difficult test and sure enough, Gorham had some great scoring chances early, but Scarborough’s big-game senior goalkeeper and captain Sophia Rinaldi came up huge and stopped them cold.

In the game’s 25th minute, the Red Storm’s unrivaled speed was first on display, as senior Emmie Flaker sent a ball ahead to sophomore Abby Roberts, who ran it down and finished.

But the Rams would respond in the 34th minute, as senior captain Sarah Rosingana buried a deflection, forging a 1-1 tie which lasted in the halftime break.

Just 47 seconds into the second half, Scarborough went back in front, this time to stay, as senior captain Delia Fravert out-ran a defender to a ball from Flaker and put it in the net.

With 34:02 remaining, freshman sensation Josie Duncan buried yet another free kick with a mighty boot and the Red Storm appeared home free, but Gorham refused to buckle.

Just 27 seconds later, the Rams earned a penalty kick, but Rinaldi robbed senior captain Ashley Connolly.

Gorham would pull within a goal, however, as with 15:46 to play a floater from junior Logan Doughty hit the inside of the far post and went in.

The Rams had a few looks to pull even, but Rinaldi stopped them and with just 46.1 seconds remaining, Fravert ran down a long serve from Duncan and added the finishing touch, scoring her second goal to produce a 4-2 victory.

Scarborough won its 10th consecutive postseason contest, improved to 13-1-2, ended Gorham’s season at 12-3-1 and advanced to battle either top-ranked Windham (13-1-1) or No. 4 Cheverus (11-2-2) in the Class A South Final Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., at Massabesic High School in Waterboro.

“It’s awesome,” said longtime Red Storm coach Mike Farley, after his 272nd win with the program. “When you go through what we’ve gone through the last two years, the winning gets in your blood. When you win big games and know how to win, that’s what we have to rely on.”

More of the same

To become state champions the past two years, Scarborough had to get past Gorham in the regional final.

The first time was easy, but not the second.

In 2022, the Red Storm rolled to a surprisingly decisive 4-0 victory, but last year, a late Rams’ rally forced overtime, where Flaker played the hero to produce a 3-2 win.

This time around, the rivals met a round earlier than normal after both squads produced strong campaigns.

Scarborough’s lone loss came in improbable fashion, a 2-1 setback at Falmouth on a goal that came with under a second to play.

Literally.

The Red Storm also tied Gorham and Cheverus and closed on a five-game win streak.

Tuesday, in the quarterfinals, Scarborough erupted for three goals in the second half to eliminate No. 7 Marshwood, 4-1.

Gorham had win streaks of four- and seven-games during its regular campaign, but tied and lost to Scarborough and also was beaten by Windham.

The Rams got a scare from No. 6 Thornton Academy in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, but a late Connolly goal produced a 3-2 victory.

In the teams’ first meeting, Sept. 5, in Scarborough, Flaker scored with 13 minutes to go to apparently play the hero again, but senior captain Piper Forgues answered for Gorham with just 1:57 remaining.

In the second encounter, the visiting Red Storm won with surprising ease, as Flaker, Fravert, senior Grace Carlista and junior Paige Garlock scored a goal apiece.

The teams had met eight previous times in the playoffs, with Scarborough holding a 5-3 advantage.

Friday, on a windy but otherwise most pleasant first night of November (an unseasonably warm 71 degrees at kickoff), the Rams hoped to beat the Red Storm for the first time since Oct. 12, 2020, but Scarborough managed to remain a thorn in their side and reached the regional final for the third consecutive season.

But not before Gorham pushed the Red Storm for 80 minutes.

The game began slowly before building to a crescendo.

It too over 10 minutes for Scarborough to get some chances, but senior Emma Blanchette missed high, Rams’ freshman goalkeeper Lydia Spear beat Carlista to a Flaker pass, then Spear saved shots from Fravert and Carlista.

Gorham then transitioned to the attack and only because of the heroics of Rinaldi, was kept off the board.

In the 16th minute, Connolly set up Forgues on the doorstep, but Rinaldi, instinctively, kicked the ball away, setting up a corner kick, which resulted in a spinning shot from senior Julia Reed, which Rinaldi stopped.

In the 20th minute, Forgues came within inches of breaking the ice, as her blast from the top of box appeared goal-bound. At the last moment, Rinaldi soared and tipped the ball over the bar and Forgues missed high off the ensuing corner kick.

“A lot of people would look at (that save) and think she made it look easy, but that’s not easy,” Farley said. “Sophia’s size and length and her big-game ability just changes things for us.”

“Kudos to Sophia Rinaldi for coming up with some big saves,” said longtime Gorham coach Jeanne Zarrilli. “She’s a world-class goalie and she’s tough to score on.”

After Carlista missed just wide for Scarborough, the Red Storm finally broke through with 15:14 on the first half clock.

Flaker played a long ball ahead and Roberts somehow beat the defender to the ball, then fired it to Spear’s right and in for a 1-0 advantage.

Scarborough had chances to double its lead, but Flaker’s one-timer went wide, Fravert had a shot saved, then sophomore Maggie Booth took a feed from Blanchette and had an initial shot saved before she somehow sent the rebound wide of an empty net.

Gorham then drew even with 6:34 remaining.

Forgues took the initial shot, but it bounced off a defender and popped out to Rosingana, who didn’t hesitate and one-timed a shot past Rinaldi and in to make it 1-1.

While the Red Storm had an edge in shots on frame (7-4) in the first half, they didn’t have a lead to show for it.

That changed in the first minute of the second half.

Again, the goal came the result of hustle and blinding speed, as after Flaker played the ball forward, Fravert beat a defender to it, then fired it into the low left corner to put Scarborough in front to stay, 2-1.

“We’re so good at working together as a team,” Fravert said. “Teamwork is a choice and this year, we’ve chosen to do that. I feel like that’s what’s led to our success. I couldn’t have scored that if I didn’t get a perfectly placed ball.”

“(The Red Storm) have a lot of speed, even coming off the bench,” lamented Zarrilli.

After Gorham senior captain Bailey Hatch sent a potential game-tying free kick high, Scarborough made it 3-1 with 34:02 to go, thanks to the booming leg of Duncan, a freshman unlike any other in the program’s recent history.

Duncan lined up a shot from 40-yards away, struck it squarely and while Spear got a hand on it, she couldn’t keep the ball from crossing the line.

“(Josie’s) done great this year,” Fravert said. “She’s really an asset to the team. She’s played a big role with confidence. She’s a great addition to the team and we’re really grateful to have her.”

“It’s crazy as a freshman for her to play that,” said Farley. “I’m just blown away by her. She looks like she’s been her for four years. It’s a super-luxury to have a freshman like that show up and change how we’ve played this year.”

But just when it appeared the Red Storm had a stranglehold on the contest, a mere 27 seconds later, a Gorham player was tripped up in the box and a penalty kick was awarded.

It appeared the Rams were going to get the momentum right back as Connolly hit a low shot toward the left post, but Rinaldi dove and got a hand on the ball. Connolly attempted to score on the rebound, but couldn’t finish.

“That was scary,” said Rinaldi, who was the winning goalie in the state final as both a sophomore and a junior. “We practice PKs a lot and I was hoping my practice would pay off and it did. I kind of looked at her positioning and she looked at the opposite side of the goal, so I thought it might be a dead giveaway that she wasn’t going that way, so I went the other way and it worked out.”

“Sophia does great under pressure,” said Fravert. “She stays composed. She knows what she’s doing. She got it done.”

“(Sophia) bails us out,” Farley added. “We couldn’t give up a PK goal right after we scored.”

Rinaldi did her best to preserve the two-goal lead, coming out to rob Connolly with 28 minutes left.

“In the first half, it was all momentum, but in the second half, those were really big saves,” Rinaldi said.

After Spear saved a bending serve from Fravert on a corner kick, then Duncan booted another long free kick just high, the visitors made things most interesting again.

With 15:46 to go, Doughty lofted a shot from the right side of the box and she placed it perfectly, too far to Rinaldi’s right for her to stop it, then off the inside of the far post and in to cut the deficit to 3-2.

“Sophia was hard on herself on the (second goal),” Farley said. “She almost got to a ball that went to a far post. She tried so hard that it hit the post then went off her and goes in. What are you going to do?”

Suddenly, Gorham could sniff a comeback victory, but it wouldn’t be able to produce the equalizer.

After Rinaldi saved a long free kick, Forgues crossed the ball to the far post where Reed was waiting, but she couldn’t get the shot on frame. The ball was then cleared out, but senior Lindy Moreland came racing in and ripped a shot just high with 8:05 on the clock.

With 1:55 remaining, Rinaldi barely beat Forgues to a ball in the box.

Thirty seconds later, a Rams’ cross came into the box, but was headed away.

The Red Storm then struck again in the blink of an eye in transition, as Duncan played a long ball ahead to a streaking Fravert, who again got just enough of a step on a defender to find room to shoot before sending it past Spear with only 46.1 seconds left.

“It didn’t feel real at first,” Fravert said. “That goal ended the game and I was happy it happened.”

“Delia, the two times she got in, she was one step from being tackled but got the shot on goal,” Farley said. “It’s really a game of inches. Gorham’s fast. It’s about anticipation and being at the right place at the right moment.”

At 6:37 p.m., the horn sounded and Scarborough was able to celebrate its 4-2 victory.

“I think people underestimating us from the start gave us motivation to do as well as we’ve been doing,” said Fravert. “It’s been fun to prove to everyone that Scarborough is always going to be a good team. People need to stop looking at us from a player perspective, but as a team. We knew that everyone’s a different team in playoffs, especially Gorham, and after we beat them, they’d want revenge. Being on our homefield, we wanted to protect it. We wanted it more.”

“Obviously we have a past with Gorham and it’s always hard against them,” Rinaldi said. “We knew they’d come back strong, but we had the mentality that we wanted to come back even stronger and we were ready.”

“Gorham’s got some seriously good players that scare you,” Farley added. “They’re talented offensively. We knew it would be an ebb-and-flow game and we couldn’t worry about the bad things or the good things. We just had to take a breath and get right back after it. Every time they got some life, we went back at them and took it away from them. Because we have so much experience and having played Gorham so many times, when you win 4-0, you never expect that to happen again. We were nervous about them and knew they were frustrated and wanted to come in and show something. Those things produced a battle out there. Every 50-50 ball was hard. Challenges were hard. Nobody was free anywhere.”

The Red Storm out-shot the Rams on frame, 12-11, and got nine saves from Rinaldi.

Gorham got eight saves from Spear, fought hard for 80 minutes and did a lot of things well, but fell just short against their recent nemesis.

“I’m proud of our effort,” Zarrilli said. “Scarborough’s a quality team that’s been in big games for years and they know how to hang on. We just have to keep pushing to get through them. We knew we wanted to come here and make it our best game and give it our best effort and we did that.  We’ve had some injury struggles and adversity, but we’ve played through it and done the best we can.”

Each team took five corner kicks.

Big stage

Cheverus and Windham do battle in the other Class A South semifinals Saturday at 11 a.m., on the Eagles’ field.

Scarborough, which has won 10 straight postseason contests, was the only team to beat Windham this season, prevailing at home, 2-1, Oct. 10.

The teams have an extensive postseason history, having played six times, but five of those encounters came between 2013-18. The most recent was won by the Red Storm, 1-0, in overtime, in the 2018 semifinals, to take a 4-2 all-time lead in the series.

Scarborough settled for a 1-1 draw at Cheverus, Oct. 1.

The Red Storm are 8-0 all-time versus the Stags in the playoffs, including last year’s 2-0 semifinal round victory.

Scarborough is ready for either potential foe.

“Either team will be tough,” said Fravert. “We just have to work hard in practice and we’ll come out hard on Tuesday.”

“I think either way, we have to have the mentality that they’ll come out strong,” Rinaldi said. “The regular season is a totally different season than playoffs. Each and every year, we change our team. Players come in, players leave. We can’t judge our team on who’s left. This year, we’ve worked hard and our practice is paying off. We just have to come with the mentality that we want to win and that we need to win.”

“Windham’s not an easy opponent,” added Farley. “We have to rely on what we’ve done before. Cheverus was the only game we didn’t have Josie. Our attack was completely off-balance in that game. To be fair, Cheverus is the team that gave us the most trouble this year.

“I don’t think we’re afraid of anybody and we respect everybody. My kids will give the same effort they give all the time. We’re hitting our stride. We just need to keep it going.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.