Tag Archives: Coach Deb LeBel

September 9, 2022 · 5:27 pm

Scarborough defeats defending Class A champion Windham 1-0

Emma Blanchette and Ali Mokriski celebrate a goal

(Windham) A beautiful moon was rising in the background as Scarborough edged Windham, 1-0, on Thursday night at Windham.

The Portland Press Herald had both teams (Windham/Scarborough) worthy of watching as well as four players (Abbey Thornton, Stella Gervais, Lana Djuranovic, Ali Mokriski) equally deserving of a special look.

Those stars were definitely special tonight and each one impressed me.

Both teams had players who could possess the ball and both teams were quick to go on the attack.

It was exciting to watch.

Senior Ali Mokriski (Bryant commit) produced the game winner with 10:55 left in the game.

Ali set up the scoring opportunity by pressuring the Lady Eagles defense and causing a violation to be committed.

Ali’s score came off a direct kick from about twenty yards on the right side.

“It was set up just right for her,” said Scarborough coach Mike Farley afterwards. “She is left-footed and just wrapped it around the side of the wall.”

Ali said, “it was set up perfectly so that I could get the ball around the wall and go to the other side of the goalie.”

Ali Mokriski’s shot gets just inside the post

It was certainly not an easy shot.

“I had a feeling she was going to wrap it around,” recalled Windham coach Deb LeBel post-game. “It was perfectly placed. It was a great shot.”

And that was all the scoring there was….although both teams had chances long range and in close.

Sophomore Sophie Rinaldi had the shutout for the (3-0) Red Storm.

The Scarborough GK sounded like a future coach afterwards when asked about getting the win and the shutout. “It was very exciting, but we really need to focus on the rest of the season. It’s early.”

Sophie spent the second half in front of the active Eagles student section with a slippery grass field in front of her.

“It was pretty hectic at times,” she said.

Sophie got high praise from Coach Farley. “Sophie had the game of her life. She made a ton of good saves.”

Goalie Sophie Rinaldi mobbed by teammates at the end of the game

“I’ve been asking our goalies to make those one or two saves that keep us in it,” he added. “She probably made four in this one and made it look easy.”

The most dangerous attacker for the Lady Eagles is Abbey Thornton. Abbey had 32 goals last year in Windham’s undefeated (19-0) Class A championship season. She had a goal in the title win versus Brunswick.

Abbey can create her own space and she moved into some with eighteen minutes left in the game. Abbey launched a laser that clanked off the crossbar.

“We dodged a bullet when Abbey got that open shot,” said Coach Farley.

If you’re thinking that a little lower would have been a goal, not so fast. “I literally had my hands right under the crossbar,” explained GK Sophie Rinaldi. “So, it was either the crossbar or my hands.”

Abbey was in the middle of some more excitement in the final two minutes in front of the Scarborough net. The ball got into the box with lots of players there. The ground was mushy and players from both sides were struggling to get a foot on the ball. Down went Abbey as she tried to get control. Foul? Not according to the official. That lack of a call didn’t set well with Windham afterwards. My picture of the action, however, would suggest that Abbey fell over the ball and would justify the lack of a whistle.

Coach LeBel had Scarborough as “the team to beat in the league” even before this game was played.

“It was tough to play a game like this for our second game,” she added. “To have a close game with them this early makes me happy with the way we played. We had our chances. Our goalie (Reilly Russell) was very good tonight. The ball just didn’t fall. We’re fine. We have a young team. We’ll clean up some things and we’ll be fine.”

Ali Mokriski and Lana Djuranovic totaled thirty-nine goals for Scarborough last year.

Windham’s Stella Jarvais was on the SMAA’s all-conference first team last year as a freshman. She was an excellent defender vs Scarborough. She went down with a leg cramp in the second half but returned. I’m sure the cramp was painful but someway the players from both sides were smiling as she was being attended to.

Scarborough was the Class A champion from 2017-2019.

It was a beautiful night for soccer. The 6PM start provided a first half of daylight. Did I mention that the moon was spectacular?

It is not a reach to imagine Scarborough and Windham meeting in the regional Class A finals.

The moon over the field was eye-catching

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Filed under Scarborough, Windham

Tagged as Abbey Thornton, Ali Mokriski, Coach Deb LeBel, Coach Mike Farley, Lana Djuranovic, Reilly Russell, Sophia Rinaldi, Stella Jarvais

November 6, 2021 · 7:14 pm

Windham takes Class A title 3-1 over Brunswick

(Waterboro ME) The style of play wasn’t what the coach wanted.

“We like to play a passing game, a possession game on the ground,” said Windham coach Deb LeBel afterwards. “Today, we were just clearing it to give us a sense of relief.”

The shaky technique aside, Windham did defeat Brunswick, 3-1, and capture the Class A title today at Massabesic High School.

The undefeated Eagles (19-0) scored three times in the last seventeen minutes of the first half and that was enough to gain their first title in seven years.

Brunswick (15-3) got a goal midway through the second half and had some chances to get closer, but it didn’t happen on this sunny morning.

“I thought we played very well in the second half,” said Brunswick coach Martyn Davison post-game. “The first half killed us a little bit.”

Abbey Thornton (2) and Sarah Talon (1) had the goals for Windham while Logan Brown scored for Brunswick.

Abbey and Sarah worked together on the first Eagles’ goal. It came off a corner kick at 16:22.

“We’ve scored a lot on corner kicks this season,” recalled Coach LeBel. “We’ve scored a ton on headers. Sarah (Talon) is super-tall and can place it.”

“On the first goal I had a great ball from Sarah (Talon),” said Abbey Thornton. “We’ve been able to do that the whole season.”

Freshman Stella Jarvais didn’t get any credit on the goal, but she took the corner kick. Stella put the ball right where Sarah (Talon) could elevate and head the ball.

Sarah’s header kept the ball going toward the front of the net where Abbey Thornton was waiting to head the ball into the Brunswick net.

Here are a series of pictures to show what that goal looked like:

Just over five minutes later (11:07), the Eagles had a second goal.

And just like the first goal, a key participant doesn’t make it to the official scoring summary. But she’ll make it here!

Junior Ashley Clark brought the ball down the left sidelines quite a distance before passing ahead to teammate Emily Talbot.

Emily sent a hard shot toward the net and Sarah Talon was able to deflect it in.

“I wasn’t expecting it to go in,” admitted Sarah afterwards, “I just wanted to get a foot on it.”

But in it went and Windham led, 2-0.

Junior Abbey Thornton is a center midfielder who made All-Conference as a freshman.

“Abbey creates turnovers,” said Coach LeBel. “Sometimes she thinks that if she doesn’t score, she’s not contributing. What she does best is stopping the ball and getting our offense going the other way.”

In the last minute of the first half, Abbey intercepted a pass, but she wasn’t at midfield. She was over to the right and closer to the Brunswick goal. Abbey knew what to do with the interception.

“I had an open shot, and I took it,” said Abbey. The quick shot sailed into the upper left corner of the Brunswick goal and the Windham lead was now, 3-0.

Abbey’s second score was Windham’s 100^th goal of the season.

The Dragons (15-3) shut out Windham in the second half.

“Our second half was tremendous,” said Coach Davison. “We could have had a couple of goals. We knew that they would score. We needed to capitalize on our chances.”

The Dragons did capitalize once in the second half.

And again (third time) a contributor to a goal is left off the score sheet.

Logan Brown’s goal off a direct kick was listed as unassisted. Logan, however, ended up with the direct kick because freshman Lexi Morin drew a penalty on her defender.

“It was a great shot by Logan,” said Coach Davison. “She’s done that all year. It was tough for the keeper with the sun in her eyes.”

The Dragons celebrate Logan Brown’s goal off a direct kick

Logan’s goal was at 19:41. Plenty of time left for Brunswick to get closer.

Windham, however, had the next scoring chance…..a penalty kick. Junior Ashley Clark drew the penalty.

Abbey Thornton took the shot and sent it wide with 16:14 remaining.

Windham’s Logan Brown had a corner kick at the eight-minute mark and the Dragons nearly scored a minute later.

The ball, on the close call, was loose and the goalie Eliza Trafford was on the ground. At the last second, however, Windham senior captain Amelia Mortero came from the left to clear the ball away.

Amelia Mortero (17) clears the ball away from in front of Windham net

Sarah Talon: “We knew what we had to do, and we were really excited to be here. Our mindset on the first day of preseason was to get here….and we did. It feels good to get the Gold Ball back for Coach LeBel. Our coaches really care for us.”

Coach Davison: “Windham is a great team. I’m really proud of what our girls did.”

Abbey Thornton: “We’ve worked hard together. We connect passes and play for each other. It was fun this year. We’re a big family.”

Coach LeBel: “The kids have worked really hard all season. They are extremely unselfish. Brunswick is very talented. I liked that they continued playing right to the end.”

Brunswick lost to Camden Hills and Bangor during the regular season and then came back to beat both in the tournament.

The referee had to get after the Windham student section in the second half……and they deserved it. Credit to those kids thereafter, because they switched to their best behavior for the rest of the game.

The weather got better as the game went on. Arrived and it was 30 degrees. When I left it was in the low 50’s. The sun never left.

Nice turf field at Massabesic. Plenty of seating available on both sides.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Brunswick coach Martyn Davison and daughter Emily

Abbey Thornton and Sarah Talon celebrate 3rd goal

Kynli Van Leer (7) and Elizabeth Talbot (10)

Shannon Flanagan (13) chases Abbey Thornton (9)

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Filed under Brunswick, Windham

Tagged as Abbey Thornton, Ashley Clark, Coach Deb LeBel, Coach Martyn Davison, Eliza Trafford, Emily Talbot, Logan Brown, Sarah Talon, Stella Jarvais

November 9, 2013 · 11:25 pm

Windham soars 3-0 over Bangor for Class A state girls soccer title

Windham – 2013 Maine Class A state girls soccer champions

Windham celebrating begins

(Bath ME) Who saw this coming?

The Windham girls’ soccer team made it look easy in defeating Bangor, 3-0, to get their first Class A title on a cold, sunny Saturday morning at McMann Field in Bath.

It took penalty kicks and overtime for the Eagles (17-0-1) to even get to the title game for the first time.

Meanwhile Bangor (16-2) came in having been in the Class A state finals four straight years……….talk about big game experience!

Grace Morris (15), Tiffany Gray (13), Jenna Soucy (23)

And then there’s that 65-4-2 record the Rams have put together over the past four seasons leading up to this title game.

But Bangor on this morning in Bath never had a chance against Windham. The Eagles controlled the ball with precise short passes and took almost all the shots.

Still this game was a scoreless tie at halftime. That score and Bangor’s track record made me suspect that the second half would be different. I also wondered as a game dragged on if some sort of fluke score might decide it.

Surprisingly, things didn’t change much in the second half. The Eagles continued to control the ball with terrific passing and again took most of the shots. The big difference? Three of their shots got past Bangor goalkeeper Emily Gilmore.

Ciera Berthiaume rips a shot through, and past, several defenders for the first Windham goal

One of trio of goals came quickly. Sophomore Ciera Berthiaume broke into the middle for a long shot. The shot was high enough and hard enough that it got into the net over the head of the Rams goalie at 39:09.

Five minutes later Ciera nearly had a second goal as she was on the heading end of a crossing pass by Lauren Shoemaker from the right. Ciera’s header back was very, very close to going in.

But Bangor hung on and as the minutes went by that one-goal Windham lead was not a comfortable one.

The Rams did get a couple of shots long-range in the second half that reached Windham GK Kate Kneeland but nothing to ooh-and-aah about.

If you’re looking for turning points (I couldn’t resist!), you might consider that Ciera Berthiaume went down at 14:28 appearing to “turn” her ankle.

You know it’s your day when an injury helps! Out went Ciera and in came junior Luisa Sbardella.

1 1/2 minutes later, junior Jenna Soucy broke from right to left occupying most of the Bangor defense. Jenna got off a hard shot in the penalty area as she went flying (diving?). GK Emily Gilmore mishandled the shot and senior Emily Brookings tried to clear the ball away. Replacement Luisa pressured Emily, forced a turnover, and fired a shot into the right corner at 12:59.

Jenna Soucy (23) gets off shot

Shot is mishandled

Emily Brookings (2) tries to clear the ball

Luisa Sbadella steals and shoots what becomes the second Windham goal

A two-goal lead, now that’s a different story with the way Windham was connecting on pass after pass.

Jenna Soucy, in the midst of four Rams, fires the third goal

Less than three minutes later, Jenna Soucy dribbled past, and around, a number of Rams defenders. Five Rams were near her when she finally fired a shot from the middle in close. The Rams GK never had a chance as Windham pushed their lead to, 3-0, with 10:11 to go.

The rest of the game was garbage time although Anna-Maria Dagher headed a corner kick over the net with 7 1/2 minutes left.

Bangor coach Joe Johnson started clearing his bench with 5 1/2 minutes left in the game and plenty of reserves saw action down the stretch for both teams.

Shannon Valente and Kate Kneeland

The shot stats were eye-opening: Windham outshot Bangor 19-2 in the first half and 14-3 in the second half. Windham GK Kate Kneeland had an easy morning with only three saves. Believe me, in the previous tournament games the senior was under fire frequently………. but not this one.

Young Benjamin LeBel (week old?) was on hand for the game.

Coach Deb Lebel of Windham won three state Class B championships at Falmouth during her four years (2005-08) coaching there.

Bangor won the state title in 2011 defeating Scarborough, 4-0, at Falmouth Stadium.

Cordelia Stewart was slated to be the starting goalie for Bangor this year but suffered a knee injury.

Ariana Davidson (11) and Ann-Maria Dagher (9)

The Windham defense was spectacular today. It was their passing that caught my eye. The passes were quick and teammates slide into open spaces. You watch the pregame and one of the things most teams do is play keep away. That game of keep away carried over into the actual game today for the Eagles.

Senior Emily Gilman ended her career today for the Eagles. Emily is tall and tough. She was a difference-maker in the way she limited high-scoring Amanda Arnold in the Thornton Academy game (Western Class A finals).

Bangor’s Tiffany Gray in the reigning Class A triple jump champion. Tiffany missed 2012 for the Rams soccer team getting injured during the 2012 summer playing for a soccer travel team.

The Eagles had players come off their bench to play key roles in their final three games of the 2013 season. Backup GK Liz Mycock was in net for Scarborough’s penalty kicks. Reserve Emily Gorrivan shocked Thornton Academy with her goal in overtime and reserve Luisa Sbardella delivered the breathing-room, second goal in the title game.

Cassie Symonds draws a crowd of Rams

McMann Field was opened in September. I thought that the surface was outstanding………..money well spent. Parking was dicey, however, but not unexpected with four important games running one right after the other.

Bangor and Windham had scrimmaged each other during the pre-season.

Windham will lose some key seniors but they have enough coming back to be in the hunt in 2014 in my opinion.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Katerina Dagher (6) and Ciera Berthiaume (15)

Ciera Berthiaume in position for a dangerous header

Emily Gorrivan gets in close

Anna-Maria Dagher (9) heads the ball over the net

Bangor coach Joe Johnson

gold ball

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Filed under Bangor, Windham

Tagged as Anna-Maria Dagher, Cassie Symonds, Ciera Berthiaume, Coach Deb LeBel, Emily Gilman, Jenna Soucy, Kate Knowlton, Luisa Sbardella, Maine Class A state finals girls soccer, McMann Park Bath, Tiffany Gray

November 2, 2013 · 11:15 pm

Penalty kicks get Windham past Scarborough 1-0 in Western Class A semifinals

Liz Mycock blocks the penalty kick of Sam Sparda.

Windham celebrating begins on the field and in the stands

(Windham ME) What a memorable day……..and I’m not just writing about the weather!

The Windham Lady Eagles used the penalty-kick route to get by nemesis Scarborough, 1-0, on a Saturday afternoon where both the weather and the girls’ soccer were terrific.

The win for the Eagles (15-0-1) pushes them into the Western Class A finals against Thornton Academy on Wednesday at Windham High School.

The last three times Windham has faced Scarborough (12-2-2), regulation and overtimes have not been enough to separate the two teams.

Today was the third time and since it was a state tournament game there was a step beyond regulation and overtimes………penalty kicks and they were needed in this Western Class A semifinal game.

backup Windham goalie Liz Mycock

The unlikely heroine for the Eagles in the penalty-kick part of this game was junior backup goalie Liz Mycock. WHS coach Deb Lebel opted to switch in Liz ahead of starting goalie Kate Kneeland because as Coach Lebel said afterwards, “she is a little taller.” Coach Lebel also added the Kate had no problem with the switch.

Sometimes a crucial decision like this one can backfire but it certainly didn’t this time for Windham.

In the first PK round, Liz gave up a goal to Katherine Kirk, but after that Scarborough was blanked on three straight attempts (Morgan Rodway, Hadlee Yescott, and Sam Sparda).

Meanwhile, Windham started with a goal by Jenna Soucy before Red Storm GK Sydney Martin turned back two straight Eagles attempts (Cassie Symonds and Jordan Sargent).

In the fourth round Emily Gilman put a grounder past Sydney into the right corner.

Liz Mycock watches the shot of Lauren Shoemaker go in the net to win the game for Windham

With Windham up two goals to one going into the fifth round, the stage was set for senior Lauren Shoemaker. Lauren put a bullet high into the left corner and the Lady Eagles earned a trip to the Western Class A finals as a result.

This game was decided with penalty kicks but the primary reason it got that far was because of the extraordinary goalkeeping of Scarborough’s Sydney Martin. No surprise that the senior was voted to the Western Class A All-Star team recently.

Sydney faced a ton of shots – 38 by one reporter’s estimate. Jenna Soucy (two goals when team’s met two weeks ago) dribbled her way into excellent looks several times. The most dangerous of Jenna’s attempts was midway through the second half.

There were several key moments in this game.

Scary moment as Cassie Symonds and Ainsley Jamieson go down from a collision.

One of them was in the last 1 1/2 minutes of the first half when Cassie Symonds and Ainsley Jamieson had a nasty collision near midfield. Both went down and walked off but Ainsley was done for the day with an injury to her left arm (wrist?). The Red Storm defense missed Ainsley’s height and strong leg.

Another key moment happened with 2 1/2 minutes left in the first overtime. Scarborough goalie Sydney Martin ran out from the goal and misfired on a goal kick. The very short kick went straight to Windham’s Ariana Davidson who quickly lobbed a return over Sydney’s head that fortunately for Scarborough bounced off the crossbar.

Coach Lebel said that it would have been a tough way to win the game after the Red Storm goalie had played so well during the game.

Ciera Berthiaume chased by Bridget Cange

One of the most dangerous scoring threats for Windham (sophomore Ciera Berthiaume) put several hard shots on net.

The Red Storm are the defending state Class A champions.

Windham has only lost twice in their last forty games, both times to Scarborough.

Scarborough has only lost five times in their last fifty-two games.

I was attracted to this game because of the terrific records these teams had going into this match. Another attraction was that the Portland Press Herald’s, “25 Players to Watch,” included four players (Ciera Berthiaume, Cassie Symonds, Ainsley Jamieson, and Sydney Martin) playing in this one.

Windham and Scarborough tied in 2012 & 2013. Scarborough won the previous four matches.

Cassie Symonds, Jenna Soucy, Jordan Sargent, and Emily Gilman made the 2013 Western Class A All-Star team for Windham.