The Capers, who didn’t win a game last year and started off this season 0-2, scored less than two minutes into overtime to rally past Gray-New Gloucester, 2-1, in a WMC matchup on Monday.
Senior Taylor Young gave the Capers (1-2) their long-awaited win with a long shot from the top-right of the shooting circle into the left side of the goal just 96 seconds into the extra session. Young also scored Cape Elizabeth’s game-tying goal midway through the second half.
“I honestly didn’t really think about. I just took the shot and it went in,” Young said. “Honestly, I don’t really remember it. I just heard my teammates cheering and I knew that it must have gone in.”
As quick as the Capers ended the game in overtime, the Patriots (0-6) started the game off even quicker. Cara Waltz received the ball just outside the shooting circle and took a couple hits on the ball before firing it past Cape Elizabeth goalie Kinnon McGrath 1:06 into the contest.
“They were pumped up, ready to come into the game,” Gray-NG coach Christa Roddy said. “We had a plan for point of attack and how to get things started. We are working on some people in some new positions to try new things, and they came out and just executed right off the bat.”
The quick-fire Gray-NG goal featured a lack of execution by the Capers. All the attention was focused on the right sideline, but the Patriots were able to get it to the middle with a couple on-target passes before Waltz took control.
“We were very quiet for the beginning of the game,” Capers first-year coach Maura Bisogni said. “Then they started talking a little bit more, especially after they scored the first goal.”
It was then the Patriots’ turn to stop executing. Gray-NG put only one more shot on goal the rest of the game.
“We just didn’t have the movement that we needed to in order to move it down the field,” Roddy said.
The Capers looked like a different team after halftime. Young said Bisogni gave the team “some great advice” during the intermission.
Cape Elizabeth also was aided by drawing penalty corners early in the second half. The Capers’ first of the period came six minutes in, and a shot rang off the left post before getting cleared away. Another came less than three minutes later, but a shot went wide left.
Third time was the charm. Young took a feed from Katie Bozek after Erika Miller inserted the ball, and rolled a shot past Gray-NG goalie Alicia Credit and into the right side of the goal.
“We’ve had so many balls this season — I mean, we saw one that came out off the post — just like believing that at some point one of these balls was going to go in,” Bisogni said. “I give them a lot of credit, too, for just staying with it and not getting discouraged.”
Young said the team has practiced a lot of corners this season. The Capers have also practiced their plan for overtime, and practice made perfect on Monday for a Cape Elizabeth team starving for a win.
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