Portsmouth girls’ advance to semis with shutout over Lincoln

PORTSMOUTH — Four goals by junior standout Mary Kate McGuire helped lift Portsmouth to a shutout victory over Lincoln High in the girls’ Division I soccer quarterfinals at home Sunday night.

McGuire also lent an assist on the other goal, by senior co-captain Sophia Piffard.

The impressive win advances Portsmouth to a semifinal showdown against Cumberland on Thursday night. That game will be played at either 5:30 or 7:30 p.m. at Johnston High School. 

The Patriots’ last game against the Lions ended in a 3-3 tie at PHS on Oct. 14. This one was never in doubt, though.

Portsmouth’s top scorer didn’t waste much time in putting her team on the board. On an assist by Piffard, McGuire pushed the ball just to the right of the Lincoln goalkeeper and into the net from close range about seven minutes into the first half. 

Just four minutes later McGuire scored again, this time on an assist by sophomore Claire Williams.

Her third goal came in the 23rd minute, when she made a clockwise spin around a defender and booted one in off her left foot. Senior co-captain Meghan Smith got the assist on the goal, which put the Patriots up 3-0 at the half.

Piffard’s goal came in the 11th minute of the second half, on a pretty cross by McGuire from the left side.

McGuire’s fourth and unassisted goal was a bullet from about 20 yards out on a breakaway.

Long layoff

Head coach Jim Blaess said he was proud of the way his girls came prepared to play considering they hadn’t taken the field competitively in more than a week.

“We’ve been off since last Saturday night and that’s a long layoff when you’re trying to keep the momentum going. But the girls are pretty focused on what the end goal is and they’ve been working really hard throughout the week,” Mr. Blaess said.

The wait to play in the quarters was even longer than expected. The game was originally scheduled to be played as part of a doubleheader following the PHS boys’ semifinal win Saturday night, but the Lions requested a delay because it was Lincoln’s Homecoming weekend.

“The delay in this game being played created a little more anxiety to get things going and get back into the swing of things,” the coach said.

Mr. Blaess said his team needs to work a few things out before facing Cumberland Thursday night. The two teams played to a 2-2 tie in Cumberland on Oct. 6

“They’ve got a couple of really good players in Julianne Ross and Abbey Drezek, but we came back from 2-0 to tie that game up,” Mr. Blaess said.