Pictured: Camryn DiMauro (2) put Portland up early in overtime. The Highlanders went on to eliminate Coginchaug from the Shoreline tournament. At right is teammate Allison Scott (1). (Photo by Paul Augeri)
By Paul Augeri
middlesexcountysports@gmail.com
DURHAM — Portland advanced in the Shoreline Conference girls soccer tournament Friday, with Camryn DiMauro scoring in the early minutes of overtime for a 2-1 victory over Coginchaug.
Shoreline Girls Soccer Tournament
- First round: Portland 2, Coginchaug 1; Old Lyme 2, Old Saybrook 0
- Semifinals: Tuesday — No. 5 Portland at No. 1 Cromwell, 3:45; No. 3 Old Lyme at No. 2 Morgan, 5pm (Indian River Complex)
- Final: Friday, 5pm (site TBD)
The Highlanders, who got an outstanding performance in goal from senior Hannah Brunk to keep the match even late in the second half, play No. 1 seed and host Cromwell (10-0-6) in the semifinals Tuesday at 3:45 p.m.
“It was a really good back-and-forth game,” said coach Joe Santavenere, whose Highlanders (10-3-3) lost to Coginchaug two weeks ago in the regular season.” Coginchaug is a really good team and they play really hard. They obviously beat us earlier in the season, so it was nice to get this one back.”
The teams were tied at halftime, with Katie Farr giving the No. 4 seed Blue Devils (9-4-2) and Kendra Schoeps getting the equalizer for fifth-seeded Portland.
“That was a big one to get back,” said Santavenere. “We got the momentum back.”
Coginchaug had several good scoring chances in the latter 20 minutes of the second half, but Brunk turned them away at every turn. In the final six minutes of regulation, she pulled in two hard, above-the-head hard shots from about 25 yards out.
“Hannah had an outstanding game in goal,” Santavenere said. “She came up really big a bunch of times. We need that from her. I was really proud of her.”
DiMauro’s winning score in OT was a left-footed beauty at a tough angle from the left side. The hard shot to the far post – she took the chance with no one up front to pass to — was well out of the reach of Coginchaug keeper Carly Benbow.
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“Camryn played outside a majority of the game and we decided to give a different look with her up top,” said Santavenere. “She has good ability to finish. We talked about trying to get people forward for a cross, but we were not quite in position at the point. She didn’t have much of an angle, but it was a great shot.”
Santavenere was pleased with Portland’s play in the 20 minutes of overtime.
“I was really happy in that first OT. We came out really strong,” he said, “considering we already played 80 minutes. To see that energy was huge for us.”