By Cliff White
Staff Writer

    The game was supposed to be close. Scarborough is, after all, the defending Class “A” champion. Kennebunk, however, scored the game’s first four goals, got five goals and an assist from Mary Defanti and four goals and an assist from Brook Kravetz, and cruised to an easy 11-5 victory at home on Monday night.
    Kennebunk got on the board less than two minutes into the game, as Jess Lavoie scored off a crisp pass from Kravetz. Scarborough responded with a free position opportunity against Rams goalie Kelsey Whitelaw, but Whitelaw made the save. Saves would become a theme for Whitelaw; during the course of the game, she made several impressive stops to crush building Red Storm momentum.
    The Rams got another goal at 16:10 in the first half from Defanti, with Lavoie assisting, and Kravetz scored her first on a fast break at 11:45, making it 3-0. The entire first half, Kennebunk appeared to be waiting for a Scarborough counterattack that never materialized; the Red Storm eventually scored at 8:45, but the Rams got it right back when Kravetz scored again at 7:53 to put the score at 5-1.
“Our fast start was huge,” said Kennebunk Coach Annie Barker. “We’ve struggled starting out in earlier games this season, where we’ve coasted along a little bit. Tonight, we took it to the next level.”
The teams traded goals over the next six minutes, and in the last minute of play the Red Storm maintained a long offensive possession that culminated with a shot that hit the goalpost with 30 seconds left. The ball was recovered by Kennebunk, who ran out the clock to close the half.
    The 6-2 score at halftime stared significantly down at the players of the two teams. Kennebunk had controlled the play in the first half, and the score showed it. But the four-goal margin of difference was bridgeable; they had not yet put away the Red Storm.
    Feeling an increased urgency, the Red Storm came out strong to begin the second half. They received a goal at 22:35 left in the period from freshman Lindsay Hagerman, who tallied three in the game. But the resilient Rams responded, with Kravetz again leading the charge. She scored with 19:22 left, and again just over a minute later at 18:08. Scarborough didn’t — or couldn’t — respond.
    Scarborough eventually got some good chances to score, as they put two shots on net  at 12:01 and 9:03 left. Whitelaw made two outstanding saves, but by then, the point was moot. Defanti had scored three times within three minutes to make the score 11-3 and put the game out of reach.
Despite the relatively close score at the half, Barker said that her team, “was never worried.”
“With Brooke [Kravetz], Mary [Defanti] and Kelsey [Whitelaw] playing as well as they played tonight, we had nothing to worry about,” said Barker.
With the way the season has been going for the Rams, it is possible to think about a deep run in the upcoming playoffs.
 “Right now, the feeling is everybody’s coming at us,” said Barker. After the dominant performance against Scarborough, it looks as though they are ready for the challenge.