POLAND — If Poland believed in omens, it certainly could have lost some of its edge when its first shot in Friday’s Western Class B soccer preliminary glanced off the bottom of the crossbar and a couple of inches in front of the goal line.

Instead, the eighth-seeded Knights shook off the bad luck, beat back an early charge from No. 9 Spruce Mountain and allowed its speed, determination and the return of its starting goalkeeper to decide the outcome in a 2-0 victory.

Poland (7-8) will meet top-seeded Cape Elizabeth in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. next Tuesday. Spruce Mountain closes out its season at 9-6.

Sarah Bolduc and Marissa Zink had the goals for the Knights, with assists from Lindsey Theriault and  Emily Bolduc,  respectively. Haley Whitworth, back in net for the first time since suffering an ankle injury one month ago, made 12 saves.

Bolduc’s goal with 10:50 left in the first half came off a nice pass by Theriault that split the middle of Spruce Mountain’s defense and allowed a sprinting Bolduc to take on Phoenix keeper Emily Keene (11 saves) one-on-one, beating her to the lower-right corner for the lead.

“It was really all about the timing,” Bolduc said. “We’ve depended on through passes the whole season. (Keene) was kind of sliding toward the left side, so I had to tap it right.”

“We knew that we had a little bit of an advantage up front with her speed, so we were trying to play her game and play it through so she could run onto it,” Poland coach Brant Remington said. “She’s been good all year about drawing that keeper out and tucking it away.”

Whitworth showed no signs of rust while turning aside seven shots in the first half. Her best save may have come midway through, when she leaped to bat down a Hayley Doyen shot from about 30 yards.

“I just stayed on my toes the whole time and ready for anything coming at me,” Whitworth said. “I jumped right into it two days ago at practice. It was hard sitting and this is a big game.”

“Erin Brewer has done an incredible job in net as her replacement. It was a real tough decision. It almost felt like a quarterback controversy,” Remington said. “Both girls deserve to be in the net. We just went with who our No. 1 was at the beginning of the season and she did fine today.”

The Knights just missed on another early chance in the second half when Courtney Cunliffe’s header on a cross went wide right. They had to wait until the 24th minute for their insurance goal, converting their third corner of the game when Zink punched through Emily Bolduc’s shot on goal to Keene’s left.

“They’re a great passing team with a lot of speed, which gave us trouble,” Spruce Mountain coach Jon Blaisdell said. “I’m pretty proud of our kids. We came in a little bit the underdog because we play an MVC schedule.”

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