WHS varsity girls’ soccer mows down Portland

By Matt Pascarella

After the Windham varsity girls’ soccer team beat Cheverus 2-0, last month, the team returned to the pitch to take on Portland on Saturday, Sept. 9 at home, and their winning ways continued as they hammered the Bulldogs, 6-0.

Windham junior Stella Jarvais stays with the ball before
heading toward the goal during a girls' varsity soccer
match against Portland at Windham High School on
Saturday, Sept. 9. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

“We came ready to play,” said Windham sophomore Neve Ledbetter, who found the back of the net three times during the game. “We were all very tough ... everyone did their part; we were passing well, we communicated well and that just led to everybody getting a piece of a goal, everybody being tough and everyone hustling.”

Ledbetter said they held the defensive line, and everyone played together as a team.

The game began with Windham’s offense going hard at Portland as they took shot after shot at goal. Roughly 16 minutes into the game, Ledbetter scored, assisted by Windham sophomore Marley Jarvais. Ledbetter scored again with a header from a corner kick, also assisted by Jarvais.

Windham enjoyed solid passing and strong defense against Portland. Junior Stella Jarvais scored next on an indirect kick. Windham remained tenacious right up until the last buzzer of the first half of the match. Defense kept the ball away from Windham’s goal for large parts of the half.

Windham junior Hannah Lee scored with three minutes left in the first half, assisted by freshman Isabella Vassoler. Windham led 4-0 at the intermission.

“[Windham] is implementing what we’re working on in practice really well,” said Windham varsity girls’ soccer coach Deb Lebel. “Distributing the ball well, switching field, not just going right down the middle. And defensively we’ve figured out who the key players are and honed in on them; we’re jelling, we get a little better each game.”

The second half brought just as much intensity from the Lady Eagles. Less than 10 minutes into the half, Ledbetter scored her third goal of the match, assisted by Marley Jarvais. Defense remained strong as the team continued to block any scoring opportunities Portland came up with.

With roughly 14 minutes left in the match, Windham senior Abby Lloyd scored from a corner kick and was assisted by junior Tayla Pelletier.

In all, Windham had 22 shots at goal; and Portland had just five.

“Our spacing was really good,” said Lloyd. “Our passing was really good. Individually we all did what we needed to; coming together as a team we are all in the places we need to be, and we need to keep working harder. Portland is an aggressive team, but when we come out, we come out to win. No one out there is selfish, we all get good passes, we play well together and that gets us goals and that gets us wins.” <