(Ed. Note: For the complete Cape Elizabeth-York girls’ soccer and Scarborough-Gorham field hockey game stories, with additional photos, see theforecaster.net)

For the most part, the young fall sports season has been played under sunny, warm skies (with the exception of volleyball, of course).

While the weather promises to turn cooler, there’s no reason to expect the same from local high school sports teams, who promise to continue to excel.

The season is starting to take shape and there’s plenty of excitement to come.

Here’s a glimpse at what transpired last week and what’s on tap:

Boys’ soccer

Scarborough’s boys’ soccer team just continues to do what it’s done better than any team in the state the past dozen seasons, avoid losses.

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After opening with a 4-0 victory at Deering, the Red Storm handled visiting Bonny Eagle, 5-1, and played host Gorham to a scoreless draw. In the win over the Scots, Jacob Kacer and Spencer Pettingill had two goals each while Alex Giles also tickled the twine. Scarborough (2-0-1) took a 29-game regular season league unbeaten streak into Thursday’s home battle against South Portland. The Red Storm welcome Sanford Saturday and go to Biddeford Thursday of next week.

South Portland won its first two games, including a 1-0 victory at Deering last Wednesday on Ahmed Suja’s goal, then lost at home to Gorham (2-1) and settled for a 3-3 draw at Bonny Eagle. Against the Rams, Kervens Anthoine had the goal. Ahmed Suja, Khalid Suja and Gary Maietta scored in the tie. The Red Riots were at Scarborough Thursday and host Biddeford Tuesday.

Cape Elizabeth started with a pair of home wins, 5-0 over Freeport and 1-0 over York, then lost, 4-0, at defending Class B champion Yarmouth. Against the Wildcats, Matt Riggle had the goal. Tuesday, the Capers improved to 3-1 with a 7-1 victory at Poland. J Bottomley and Nicolai Sabatini both scored twice. Cape Elizabeth was at Falmouth Thursday and hosts Greely Monday.

Greater Portland Christian School improved to 3-0 with wins last week at home over Vinalhaven (3-0) and at Chop Point (6-0). Ethan Spaulding scored all three goals against Vinalhaven. Spaudling had another hat trick against Chop Point and Jeremiah Hammond, Teddy Lane and Killian Patterson also had goals. After going to Vinalhaven Wednesday, the Lions visit Rangeley Friday, then host Rangeley Tuesday.

Girls’ soccer

Cape Elizabeth’s girls’ team, the two-time defending Western B champion, suffered its first loss last Wednesday, dropping a 2-0 home decision to York. The Capers simply couldn’t generate many chances against the stifling Wildcats’ defense.

“York will be a tough team to beat,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Craig Fannan. “They were super organized. We had good buildup and got the ball in good areas, but we couldn’t break them down or get behind them. It was frustrating.”

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Cape Elizabeth then won at Yarmouth (3-0) and at home against Poland (2-0) to improve to 3-1. At the Clippers, Mariah Deschino stole the show by scoring all three goals. Kate Breed and Prezli Piscopo scored in the win over the Knights. Cape Elizabeth hosts Falmouth Friday and has a regional final rematch at Greely Monday.

Scarborough settled for a 2-2 draw at Sanford last Wednesday, then improved to 3-0-1 with a 3-0 victory at Bonny Eagle and a 1-0 home win over Gorham. Ashley Perriello scored twice and Gaby Panagakos added the other goal against the Scots. In the win over the Rams, an early goal from Panagakos held up. The Red Storm host South Portland Saturday and go to McAuley Wednesday.

South Portland was still chasing its first win at press time. Last week, the Red Riots lost at home to Deering (3-0) and at Gorham (5-1) to fall to 0-3. Mary Cronin had the goal against the Rams. After hosting Bonny Eagle Wednesday, South Portland visits Scarborough Saturday and plays at Biddeford Wednesday of next week.

GPCS snapped a 42-game losing skid last Friday with a 3-2 win at Highview Christian Academy to improve to 1-2 on the season. Clarissa Jones, Erin Robinson and Angie Jones had the goals. The Lions were at Vinalhaven Wednesday, go to Rangeley Friday and Buckfield Saturday and host Valley Monday.

Field hockey

Scarborough’s defending Class A champion field hockey team took a 66-game league unbeaten streak and a 5-0 record into Wednesday night’s home showdown against undefeated Cheverus (see theforecaster.net for game story). Last Friday, the Red Storm downed visiting Gorham, 3-1. Tori Timm gave Scarborough an early lead, but the Rams pulled even. The game remained deadlocked until 10:01 remained, when not surprisingly, Lily Nygren came up huge, finishing a cross from Cara Reynolds and putting the Red Storm ahead to stay. Liz Callahan added a goal (from Reynolds) 38 seconds later and Scarborough went on to the victory.

“It’s different this year,” said Nygren. “We’re not having cakewalk games like last year. Every game’s a struggle. We have to fill the holes of players we lost. We’ve done really well together. We’re meshing together. People have filled in.”

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“I think we’re doing very well,” said Reynolds. “It’s a whole new team. A lot’s changed, but we’re switching it up.”

“We always seem to find a way,” added Scarborough coach Kerry Mariello. “There are games where it feels like a setback, but it comes down to not every win being pretty. If we can keep pulling wins like this off, we’ll be in good shape.”

Monday, Scarborough won at Bonny Eagle, 1-0, on a late Callahan goal. After playing Cheverus, the Red Storm visit Windham Friday and play at Thornton Academy next Thursday.

South Portland, which won its opener, dropped its next three, including a 7-0 loss at Cheverus and a 5-1 home setback to Deering last week. Bonge Lako had the lone goal against the Rams. After hosting Bonny Eagle Wednesday, the Red Riots visit Westbrook Friday and host Windham Tuesday.

Cape Elizabeth fell to 1-5 after recent losses at Gray-New Gloucester (1-0) at home to Greely (3-0) and at home to Kennebunk (6-0). The Capers hosted Lake Region Wednesday, go to Poland Saturday and welcome Yarmouth Tuesday.

Volleyball

Scarborough’s volleyball team has played its share of exciting matches so far this fall. After opening with a 3-1 home win over defending Class A champion Cape Elizabeth and holding on for a palpitating 3-2 victory at Greely, the Red Storm dropped a five-setter at two-time defending Class B champion Yarmouth (26-24, 20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 6-15) before improving to 3-1 with a 3-0 home victory over Biddeford Monday. Scarborough was home with Gorham Thursday and welcomes Falmouth Tuesday (see theforecaster.net for match story).

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Cape Elizabeth, as it did a year ago en route to the championship, got off to a slow start, falling in four sets to Scarborough in the opener, then dropping a gutwrenching five-set (23-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-17) decision to visiting Greely. Saturday, the Capers got in the win column by sweeping Mt. Desert Island (25-8, 25-13, 25-13) and Tuesday, they evened their record at 2-2 with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-16) victory at Biddeford. Cape Elizabeth was at Falmouth in a state final rematch Thursday (see theforecaster.net for story), hosts Cony Tuesday and welcomes Gorham Thursday of next week.

South Portland fell to 1-2 after a 3-0 (12-25, 12-25, 17-25) loss at Windham last Thursday. Tuesday’s home match versus Wells was postponed (no makeup date was announced) and Thursday, the Red Riots hosted first-year varsity program Deering. South Portland goes to North Yarmouth Academy Monday and welcomes another first-year varsity team, Portland, Thursday of next week.

Cross country

Scarborough’s cross country juggernaut hosted Biddeford, Massabesic and Portland in last week’s regular season opener. The boys were first as a team and were paced by Connor Doherty (17:07.20) and Andrew Sholl (17:08) who had the top two individual times. The girls also placed first as a team and had the top three individuals: Bethany Sholl (20:34.80), Laura Volan (20:52.20) and Samantha Saraceno (20:56.70).

South Portland joined Cheverus and Marshwood at Windham. The Red Riots girls placed first as a team as Serena Mckenzie (21:03) and Casey Loring (21:12) were the top two individuals. The boys were second to the hosts. Gavin Damian-Loring was the second-fastest individual (18:15). 

Cape Elizabeth ran with Falmouth, Old Orchard Beach and Sacopee Valley at Freeport. The Capers girls were second as a team. Liv Palma was the individual runner-up (20:45.86). The boys came in third. Jared Duperre (ninth, 17:55.79) was the fastest Caper. 

This weekend, Scarborough joins Sanford and Westbrook at Cheverus, South Portland runs with Bonny Eagle and Massabesic at Deering and Cape Elizabeth joins Lake Region, Old Orchard Beach and Waynflete at Greely.

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Golf

Scarborough’s defending Class A champion golf team fell to 3-2 after a 7-6 loss at Portland Tuesday. The Red Storm had previously blanked Deering, 13-0.

South Portland lost 9.5-3.5 to Portland and 11-2 to Cheverus last week and 10.5-2.5 at Falmouth Tuesday to drop to 0-5.

Cape Elizabeth is still perfect after wins over NYA (6-1) and York (6-1) elevated its record to 4-0.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

Sidebar Elements


Cape Elizabeth’s Sierra Aceto battles a York defender for a ball in the air during the Capers’ 2-0 home loss last week. 

Scarborough’s Maddie York plays the ball during the Red Storm’s 3-1 home win over Gorham last Friday.

Cape Elizabeth’s Jared Duperre runs toward a ninth-place individual finish at last week’s meet in Freeport.


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