READFIELD — Hadley Farwell put on a show with front handspring throw-ins and Caroline Harper scored three straight goals to lift top-seeded Maranacook to a 6-0 win over eighth-seeded Winthrop in a Class C South girls soccer quarterfinal on Tuesday.

“We were really sharp today. I think this was one of our best games of the year,” Maranacook coach Travis Magnusson said. “We’re peaking at the right time, and they’ve had such a great career, when they get to this moment, they step it up even more. They just love the playoffs.”

The Black Bears improve to 13-3-1 and advance to face No. 4 Traip Academy in the semifinals on Saturday. Winthrop ends the season with a 3-9-3 record.

Farwell, a senior, pulled off her crowd-pleasing throw-in four times on Tuesday.

“I’m feeling ecstatic, like our energy right now is through the roof,” Farwell said. “We came out, we were ready. We talked about it before, we’ve been preparing for this one step at a time and I think we were so excited to just play and be home. Right now, I can’t even describe how I’m feeling.”

Harper scored her first goal with 1:06 left in the first half. She scored twice in the second half, with 37:54 left and with 35:58 left.

“I’m very good at playing wide, and finding the back post is super easy, especially when we’re playing three forwards,” Harper said. “It’s a lot easier because they don’t know who to mark, so it’s like someone just leaves it open, and I’m always just wide.”

HOW DID MARANACOOK WIN?

• Maranacook focused on passing in practices leading into Tuesday’s game. The Black Bears were especially effective with long, leading passes downfield.

“I think it’s knowing when to do the foot-to-foot passes compared to the leading passes, and whether to send a big ball or short ball,” Farwell said. “I think today we did really well with that, just being aware of the field and having that high soccer IQ.”

• The Black Bears put 17 shots on goal and held Winthrop to five.

• Maranacook started fast, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the game.
Harper said the early goals “help us to stay confident in ourselves,” and “boosts our energy and confidence.”

“We talk about coming out with energy, but playing calm in our game, and we came out, we scored within the first two minutes — that feels amazing, automatically,” Farwell said. “That’s like, ‘OK, we’re here, we’re ready to play our game,’ and I think we did it in the second half as well.”

STATISTICAL LEADERS

• Maranacook: Caroline Harper (three goals), Evelyn Stevenson (goal), Celia Bergdahl (goal), Chloe Mills (goal), Stella Stewart (five saves).

• Winthrop: Kylee Savage (12 saves)

THEY SAID IT

• “My freshman year we went to states. We ended up losing, but it was a very well-matched game. It’s been my dream to go back. I think that it’s an amazing feeling, an amazing thing to be part of, no matter if you get there and you win it, or just the build up of it. We talk about one step at a time, so to be able to have this opportunity to continue on, for me, is the greatest feeling in itself.” — Hadley Farwell, Maranacook senior

• “They’re No. 1 for a reason, (Mountain Valley Conference) champions as well. They’re a very good team, and they can bring in waves of people who are all skilled. It’s really every aspect of their attack that’s good.” — Joe Menice, Winthrop coach

• “I love how we’re playing right now, I love our attitudes and I love our focus. It’s going to take somebody having a great game to beat us.” — Travis Magnusson, Maranacook coach