PORTLAND — If you’re Lydia Roy, you couldn’t ask for a better way to end your high school career.
The Waterville High School senior midfielder scored the game-winning goal with 38.1 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Panthers to a 1-0 victory over Cape Elizabeth to win the Class B state title Saturday at Deering High School.
With time winding down in the first overtime, Roy struck a ball from 20 yards away that curled just inside the far side post past Cape Elizabeth goalkeeper Tessa Goldstein. Roy had the only other shot on goal for the Panthers in overtime.
“I had a perfect view of it,” Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. “It cleared by about an inch on both posts into the corner. It was absolutely perfect. I couldn’t ask for a better person to score that goal. She’s the heart and soul of our team.”
Waterville and Cape Elizabeth played a scoreless regulation, but they both had their share of opportunities. The Capers hit the crossbar twice and Mariah Deschino saw her header toe the goal line but never clear it.
The Capers controlled the tempo throughout the first half, but hit a wall mid way through the second. Cape Elizabeth had just one shot on goal in the second half compared to Waterville’s four.
“It can be a cruel game sometimes,” Cape Elizabeth coach Craig Fannon said. “The bounces really didn’t go our way. We worked hard for it. We had a great performance for the first 55 minutes and then we got tired. We have four players injured, another was suspended (red card last game), played 110 minutes Wednesday. Legs got to us in the end.”
The match was played almost exclusively in Cape Elizabeth’s defensive end in the second part of the second half. The Panthers had two corners in the second half, while the Capers went without one.
“When you ask kids to run at the end of practice or during the summer and lifting and I never got any push back because they knew sometimes games come down to things like this and in the second half our fitness was superior to Cape’s and that’s what took the game over,” Wilson said. “They had more opportunities in the first half, but then as the game went on our fitness took over.”
Roy also said Waterville’s conditioning paid dividends in the end.
“We did a lot of running this season,” Roy said “I think toward 20 minutes left that Cape was pretty tired and we just weren’t. We worked very hard for it this season.”
Waterville held a 7-4 edge in shots in goal, while corner kicks were even at three.
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