Windham varsity and junior varsity boys’ soccer give all, but Scarborough narrowly gets by

Windham varsity soccer player Ethan
Wert, a senior, takes the ball away
from a defender and heads toward
the goal in Windham's home game
against Scarborough on Nov. 6.
Windham kept Scarborough from
scoring for more than a half.
Scarborough did get one by the
goalkeeper for a 1-0 win.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

By Matt Pascarella

The Windham High School varsity and junior varsity boys’ soccer teams kept rival Scarborough scoreless for the first halves of each game, and then some on Friday, Nov. 6 at Windham.

After the varsity team held its own against this tough team, the Red Storm managed to score halfway through the second half and got a 1-0 win. Scarborough scored back-to-back goals late in the second half against the JV team and won 2-0.

Varsity

Windham’s varsity started strong, pressuring Scarborough. In only his second varsity start, filling in as goalie, junior Colby Connolly had several nice stops and blocks.

Windham held off Scarborough in the first half and showed they have grown as a program. Windham coach Ben Schulz said they still have some work to reach an upper echelon like Scarborough but added “I’m proud of them; we worked hard, but sometimes the ball doesn’t go your way.”

Windham’s intensity didn’t let up in the second half. There was roughly 18 minutes left in the game when Scarborough scored. As the clock wound down, Windham made one final effort to tie. Unfortunately, they came up short and Scarborough got the win.

“This is probably the best we’ve played in seasons,” said Windham captain and junior Wyatt Flibbert. “I’m pretty happy with how we played as a team ... we gave up that goal, but we worked hard and almost got one back there at the end ... definitely worked a lot harder than in the past.”

Junior Varsity

The Windham JV team also had a scoreless first half, pressuring the Red Storm, with strong defense and multiple nice stops by Windham sophomore goalie Sam Plummer.

“I think we could have played a lot better, said Windham junior Will Stewart. “Towards the second half we cleaned it up.”

Stewart said they didn’t have the energy they needed in the first half. In the second half they connected
more passes, made better runs and had more shots on goal, they just could put any in.

In the second half, the Eagles continued to pressure with shots on goal and several blocks from Plummer. With a little more than eight minutes left, Scarborough scored. Then with a little less than seven minutes left Scarborough scored again. Windham put in a strong effort, but never recovered and Scarborough won 2-0.

“I think they found the fight they needed (in the second half)” said Windham coach Mitchell Hodge. “They worked and held them off. We had moments where we were flat, but never stopped working, never stopped staying engaged. It’s not the outcome we wanted. We made the adjustments we needed to, just couldn’t hold them off the whole way.”<