FALMOUTH — Messalonskee High School senior Oleksandr Shatskov sat down on the turf, his head hung low as the sting of defeat started to resonate.

Captain Chris Hall walked off the field, and one by one his teammates joined him.

There would be no gold ball this year for the Messalonskee boys soccer team, whose magnificent postseason run came to an end Saturday with a 3-1 loss to Windham in the Class A state title game.

“To come as far as we did, it’s fantastic,” said Messalonskee coach Tom Sheridan, whose team finished 13-3-2. “We fought real hard. Just getting here is fantastic. It was quite a run.”

Indeed, but it was Windham (16-2-0) that ultimately made history before a capacity crowd of about 2,500 at Falmouth Stadium.

Both teams were playing in their first Class A boys soccer state title game.

“We knew we were in for a fight,” Messalonskee senior forward Nate DelGiudice said. “They were a really strong team.”

Marc Reynolds scored two goals, one in each half, and Robert Lentine added another for the Eagles of Windham. Lentine also assisted on the first goal of the game, which Reynolds scored with 27 minutes, 4 seconds left in the half.

Windham keeper Dana King, whose first cousin is Messalonskee senior captain Chris Hall, stopped eight shots.

“Crazy,” King said. “We were confident, and we came out strong. Making history, it’s crazy.”

Added Reynolds: “We were all talking about making history. It was a great run. It took a lot of effort.”

Reynolds and Lentine staked Windham to a 2-0 lead in the opening half.

Messalonskee responded in the second when Shatskov scored on a rocket of a shot from about 30 yards out with 20:55 left in regulation.

The momentum was short-lived, however, as Reynolds beat Messalonskee keeper Zach Sutherland (four saves) on a well-placed header about five minutes later.

“I was calling for it, and (Lentine) passed it to my feet,” Reynolds said. “The goalie was going one way, and I went the other.”

Sheridan said the goal sapped the momentum his team finally had earned.

“That was tough,” he said. “They dominated play in the first half, but in the second half we changed up our formation and we got a lot of better chances. We just ran out of time in the end.”

Added Hall: “We started off slow, but Dana (King) played out of his league. We battled back. We just got outplayed. They made the right passes and found the right lanes.”

Hall was dragged down from behind on a potential breakaway by Erik Gumaer with 4:49 left, but Messalonskee couldn’t convert on the direct kick, which came just outside the box.

“They definitely came out strong,” Sutherland said. “We didn’t know what to expect from them. They were tough. Making it to states, it was great. We just came up short. They got it on us early. In the second half we came back strong, but it wasn’t enough. They had multiple and multiple shots and some were bound to go in.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

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