Windham Defeats Cape Elizabeth 2-1 in
Western Maine Class A Quarterfinals
High
School Soccer - Boys Varsity
October 28, 2009
Windham players
leave the field after their 2-1 quarterfinals win
over Cape Elizabeth.
Windham ME: The third
ranked Windham boys varsity soccer team defeated
sixth ranked Cape Elizabeth 2-1 in Western Maine
Class A Quarterfinals on Wednesday night.
Cape Elizabeth came
out strong, forcing play in the Windham end for most
of the first half. They dominated the game except
where it counts, on the scoreboard.
Just before the twenty
minute mark Windham gained possession and quickly
made their way down the right wing into the Cape
end. Senior forward Matt Coffee scored inside the
left post to give Windham a 1-0 lead 19:13 into the
game.
Cape sets up for
the free kick just outside the Windham penalty area.
Cape continued their
strong play for the remainder of the first half but
failed to capitalize on several corner kicks and
direct kicks from just outside the Windham 18 yard
line. Windham keeper Nick Taylor turned away all
Cape shots directly on net.
Windham Keeper Nick
Taylor makes a diving save in the first half.
The half ended with
Windham clinging to the 1-0 lead.
Cape's Ben Brewster
goes up for a header in front of the Windham goal.
Both teams came out in
the second half fighting to move on in the playoffs.
Windham was picking up momentum when Cape
evened the score 25:31 into the half on a Brock
Barrit goal.
Windham forward
Patrick Ciez attempts to play the ball around Cape
Defender Will DeSena.
Windham picked up the
intensity and began forcing more play in Cape's end
of the field. Late in the game Dylan King sent the
ball into the Cape Penalty area. The ball made its
way to Coffee on the right side of the Cape goal and
he hit a rocket past the Cape keeper to the low
corner of near post giving Windham a 2-1 lead with
8:04 left in regulation.
Windham freshman
Tyler Defosse puts a move on Cape's Brock Barritt
late in the second half.
Windham's first year
coach Paul Baber said the key to the win was "We
prepared for the game and our game plan worked quite
well. We defended very well and took our chances on
the counter. They possessed the ball much better
than us but they did not break us down and have
clear goal scoring opportunities. We knew we had to
frustrate them and also take our chances."
Windham coach Paul
Baber addresses his team after their 2-1 playoff win
over Cape Elizabeth.
Windham and Cape did
not meet in the regular season making it a little
harder for both teams to plan. Cape played the
regular season in class B and elected to play up in
class A for the postseason. To prepare for the game
Baber said, "We got a couple scouting reports. These
identified Cape's best players, formations and set
pieces. We worked training to counter them by doing
the following; Man mark their center-mid, Ben
Brewster who dictated their play...so we worked on
marking and double teaming him on set pieces." Baber
continued, "They play a 3-5-2 and are strong down
the middle. We felt we needed to match this
formation (or at least at the start) and so we
worked on this at practice."
Windham's win sends
them to the semifinals at 6PM on Friday October 30
against seventh seed Greely who shocked second seed
Gorham Wednesday night with a 2-1 win in overtime.
When asked where his
team needs to improve before that game Baber said,
"We need to do a better job of holding the ball up
if it is not on the go straight to goal. We must
counter at speed but we also need to make smart
decisions and if we cannot go to goal we need to
possess the ball better as we gave it away too many
times." |
