Scarborough edges Windham boys’ soccer in overtime

By Matt Pascarella

Windham varsity boys’ soccer held Scarborough scoreless for 80 minutes on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Scarborough High School but less than a minute into overtime, the Red Storm got the ball in the net for a 1-0 win.

Windham senior Sam Rogers goes full speed after the ball
during a prep soccer match at Scarborough High School
on Tuesday, Oct. 1. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

“We knew coming into this game we had a target on our back,” said Windham senior captain Luke Cunniffe. “Being undefeated prided us, but we knew teams were going to come at us hard. Coming into this game we knew we had to give it our all because Scarborough is no-joke of a team. Today, the ball didn’t bounce our way; we had plenty of chances to score. We lost a game but there are a few positives to come out of it – we showed we could play with big teams for 80 minutes, but the extra minutes just got us. Our defense, Lukas (Hammond) proves he’s the best keeper in the state, Zach Noonan just leads us every game, we have so many solid players, but today wasn’t our day. We were two evenly matched teams ... certain plays and certain things we could have adjusted on, but you can’t change it now. The good thing about high school season is we have games back-to-back-to-back, so (the next game) will be a good chance for us to bounce back and prove we are a good team.”

Windham started the game going hard after the ball. Windham’s defense cut down Scarborough’s offense.

WHS senior Sam Rogers took a shot at goal that hit the post and bounced back. The Eagles pressured and hustled.

Windham senior goalie Lukas Hammond had a nice stop. Windham offense had several more shots at goal, but nothing landed.

“All game long we chased and didn’t play to our capacity of what we can do,” said Windham varsity boys’ coach Jeff Neal. “We pride ourselves on winning 50-50 balls, challenging on first and second balls; we let them step in and win a lot of second balls. We pride ourselves on being a possession team that moves the ball around. We had a little bit too much ... individual play as opposed to making the easy pass and trusting the players and the system around us. Playing Scarborough – they’re always going to battle, they’re a perennial team. You go this long undefeated without giving up a goal and psychologically ... people are talking and ... everyone’s going to bring their ‘A’ game. We can try to downplay it as a coaching staff, but it’s still there. That’s a lot of pressure and we didn’t react or adjust to that; the good news now is it’s done. As a coaching tool and a motivator, it could be the best thing for us. We’ve been having that discussion with the boys; giving up goals is part of the game. We’re going to bounce back better, we’re going to learn from it, we’re going to grow from it.”

The Eagles’ didn’t dip in the second half, but the offense struggled to score. Hammond recorded save after save.

Windham was aggressive and senior Carter Engelman took a shot at Scarborough’s goal, just barely missing it.

At the buzzer, it had been 80 scoreless minutes but 56 seconds into overtime, Scarborough scored.

“Going into overtime I don’t think we were really focused,” said Rogers. “There’s definitely a lot we need to work on defensively and midfield-wise. I think we need to stay more composed in the back when the ball comes against good teams. If we are calm and can find feet off the ball, that way we can build up instead of just panicking and kicking it out of bounds and forcing a turnover, because that’s when it gets dangerous. Winning our first balls in the air (was good). We’re going to go into (the next game) positive and trying to make a statement. After (other teams) see this, they’re going to think we are some easy team to beat – which is not true.” <