For the first time since they began playing soccer together six years ago, Taylor Gorman and Cody Zane will be on the same high school team.

Best friends since they met while playing for the Coastal Soccer Club, both will suit up for North Yarmouth Academy this season.

Gorman, who has been a student at the small private school in Yarmouth since he was in the sixth grade, has been a fixture in the Panthers´ lineup for three seasons.

Zane, who lives in the central Maine town of Freedom, is making the move to NYA after three years at Mt. View High in Thorndike.

A Division I prospect like Gorman, Zane said the move was made primarily for academics.

"I was looking for a stronger, more rigorous academic program." he said. "It wasn´t very challenging (at Mt. View). I really wouldn´t do much at all and I had a 3.9 (grade-point average)."

Getting an opportunity to play on the same team as his best friend also was a consideration.

"Taylor´s wanted me to go to NYA since I was a freshman, but I wasn´t quite ready to move out," Zane said.

The friends met while playing for opposing club teams.

"When I was 12, I was playing for the Terriers in Waterville and he was playing for Coastal and they beat us 13-0," Zane said. "After that game, I said, ´Dad, I want to play for that team.´ "

At the time, Gorman´s parents were coaching the under-12 team.

" I went down and tried out and made the team," Zane said.

For six years, Zane has been making the 70-mile round trip from Freedom to Brunswick three or four times a week during the spring and summer to practice with the Coastal Soccer teams. During the past several winters, Zane also made the trek to Topsham to play in an indoor soccer league two or three times each week.

Zane often ended up spending a night with Gorman´s family in Freeport.

"He lives so far up, and we play a lot of games in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and he needed a place to stop in between," Gorman said. "We pretty much grew up together just playing soccer. Our team traveled all over the place, so we ended up spending a lot of time together."

While at NYA, which doesn´t have dormitories, Zane will live with the Gormans.

Zane and Gorman are part of a burgeoning group of young Maine players who play soccer year-round.

"Both Taylor and Cody´s aspirations have always been to push themselves," said Susan Gorman, Taylor´s mother. "They often work out together. They go running together."

Last June, Gorman and Zane helped Coastal Soccer´s under-17 team advance to the final of United States Youth Soccer´s Region I tournament in Brunswick.

Both intend to play Division I soccer.

"With the college process coming around and you´re looking at schools, it´s good to have someone to talk to," Gorman said. "He´s looking at schools. I´m looking at schools. We can compare what we hear from coaches and schools. It´s good to talk about it."

Zane´s top choice seems to be Rhode Island. Gorman has settled on Brown or Providence.

Of course, all three universities are in Rhode Island.

"The likelihood is we will be playing against each other," Gorman said. "It will be fun."

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com