Playoff hopes end for local teams

The Houlton Lady Shires’ hope of a deep run into the Class C playoffs was shattered last Tuesday in Fort Kent, as the Warriors triumphed 7-0 in the preliminary round.     Marissa Albert tallied four goals to lead No. 6 Fort Kent over No. 11 Houlton.
“We just ran into a very tough team,” said Houlton coach Tim Tweedie. “Fort Kent played a great game against us.”
Nicole Chasse scored and notched three assists, while Jamie Pelletier and Katie Rossignol scored a goal apiece for the winners. Fort Kent outshot Houlton 25-12.
Fort Kent goalie Emily Morneault had 10 saves, while Houlton’s Madison Lezotte blocked 12 of the shots she faced.
“Overall, I’m very proud of my kids,” said Tweedie. “They played extremely hard for 80 minutes and never let up.”
The Lady Shires’ season ends at 6-9, but Tweedie looks forward optimistically.
“I think any year a team can make the playoffs has to be looked at as being successful,” Tweedie said. “We have nine starters returning next season, so we should be tough again next year.”
On the boy’s side, the No. 11 visiting Houlton Shiretowners were defeated 3-1 by No. 6 Fort Kent, as the Warriors’ Thomas Levesque scored all of their goals.
Scoring Houlton’s lone tally was Josh Drew. Goalie Ryan Van Buskirk blocked 12 of 24 shots, while Fort Kent’s Matt Harvey turned back 10 of 18 shots faced.
Cougars defeated in quarterfinals
The No. 8 Katahdin Cougars playoff run came to an end on Friday in Ashland, as the Hornets came from behind to claim a 4-3 victory.
The Hornets faced Fort Fairfield on Tuesday in the Class D semifinals.
Number-one Ashland met the Cougars for the third time this season. The Hornets finished the first 20 minutes, three goals behind Katahdin, as Cougars Ethan Qualey and Marshall Davis provided the offensive punch.
Qualey opened his team’s scoring with an assist from senior Tom Anderson, followed by two straight goals from Davis — the first on a soft touch to the far side of the goal and his second on a penalty kick.
When the second half started, the Cougars were without the services of Anderson, who was sidelined for the first 10 minutes, as he was the recipient of a yellow card which was called in the last three seconds of the opening half.
With the Cougars out of balance, the Hornets made their move. Tyler Cote booted in a penalty kick that let the Hornets get onto the board with 20:23 left in the second half, and then Carl Nemer hit a Jacob Paradis pass to the side of the goal 2:50 into second-half action. Nemer’s goal tied the career goal record  which he may break if the boys continue into playoffs. Then Nick Gimble knotted the score on a corner kick from Kenny Tarr with 12:33 left in the game.
Looking like the game may go into overtime, the Cougars were called for a tripping penalty in the goal box and the Hornets’ Tarr knocked in the game-winner with 1:48 left.
“The boys did an outstanding job, and should be very proud of how they played and handled themselves in the face of adversity,” said Katahdin coach Matt Lindsay, after explaining the rough game.
The Cougars had seven shots on goal, as Ashland’s Lucas Belanger had three saves, while Katahdin goalie Matt Tarr blocked 18 of 26 shots.
The Cougars finish at 7-8-1.
“I believe our come-from-behind win will be a great lesson for us,” said Ashland coach Kevin Paradis. “My guys now know that they are never out of it. We also learned that we should never dig ourselves a hole to climb out of.”
In preliminary action, the Cougars picked up a 6-2 win over visiting Central Aroostook, No. 9, last Tuesday in Stacyville behind the offensive punch of Davis’ three goals and assist.
Anderson scored and assisted on three goals, while Qualey booted in a goal and chipped in with an assist in the Class D preliminary game. Billy Duffy added a goal, while goalie Tarr stopped three of five shots on net.
For the Panthers, 8-5-2, Emanuel Martinez and Zac Amnott each had a goal in the losing effort. Goalie Tyler Rusby set aside seven of 17 shots.
Warriors’ playoff bid ended
The Southern Aroostook Warriors’s coach knew hosting a playoff game didn’t mean an automatic bid into the Class D tournament. SACS coach Cliff Urquhart was right.
“We really knew we were in for all we could handle when we drew Van Buren for our first round match-up,” Urquhart said.
Van Buren is the defending Class D champion.
“It was really the team no one wanted to face in the first round,” Urquhart added. “All that playoff experience really helped their cause. I thought our game plan to stop Alex Martin — 2006 Class D Player of the Year — was effective but the other players around him really stepped up and played well.”
The No. 11 Van Buren Crusaders upset the No. 6 Warriors, 3-0 last Tuesday in Dyer Brook.
Van Buren’s Derrick Rossignol figured into the winning formula with a goal in each half to lead his team. Rossignol staked his team a 1-0 halftime lead when he scored off an Alex Martin direct kick. Martin’s ball rang the post and rebounded to Rossignol’s feet, and he punched it in.
The wind was in favor of the Warriors during the first half, causing concern for coach Urquhart in the second half of action.
“I knew if we didn’t score in the opening half we may be in trouble,” he said. “We had plenty of opportunities to score as seven of our 11 shots came in the first half. Execution is critical in games like this and we failed to capitalize on our scoring chances. The wind was quite a factor considering they only took three shots in the half.”
The Crusaders’ Rossignol and Ben Doucette each scored second-half insurance goals.
“In the second half, I told the kids we needed to keep the ball on the ground and create our chances working from the outside of the field and hitting our runners on the inside,” said Urquhart. “We didn’t do a bad job at that, but their defense stepped up and knocked a lot of crosses out of our scoring area.”
Each of the team’s goalies, Patrick Vaillancourt of Van Buren and Colby Clark of SACS had seven saves on 11 shots apiece in the game. The Warriors end the year at 8-5-2.
“I thought we played hard, but the difference in the game was they executed and we didn’t,” said Urquhart. “I was proud of the kids for leaving everything on the field. It’s always disappointing to go home [lose] as the higher seed.”
The Warriors will lose six seniors to graduation — starters goalie Clark; midfielder Robbie Toothaker; forward Josh Branscombe and fullback Dylan Stubbs. But, coach Urquhart is optimistic in his look to next year.
“I think that next year this team has the potential to do well,” he said. “Southern Aroostook will be returning 12 players, four who will be seniors. We will return our two leading goal scorers and I have confidence that the younger guys will step up and fill the void left by the seniors.”
Urquhart is hoping that some of the underclassmen will develop into leaders for future teams.
“I think it is extremely imperative that a team possess a leader, who leads on the field and in the classroom,” he said.
Urquhart wants his players to be good soccer players, but more importantly to demonstrate good character on and off the field.
“If we can [reach that goal], I think it will pay dividends in the team’s success,” he said.
Lady Hawks surprise Woodland
The Lady Hawks squeaked into the Class D playoffs in 12th place, but they made good on their opportunity, as they upset the No. 5 Woodland Dragons, 1-0. The game went through a scoreless double overtime before penalty kicks determined a winner.
“We played well defensively,” said Hodgdon coach Brian Fitzpatrick. “Our fullbacks played very steady and very well.”
Fitzpatrick said offensively his squad didn’t have many scoring chances as Woodland’s defense was solid, too.
“They really packed it in with five and sometimes six backs,” he said. “Their goalie was solid, as well.”
Throughout the game, Fitzpatrick was keenly aware of how sweeper Katie Duff protected the goal.
“Her long, booming kicks any time a ball came into the area was impressive,” he said.
Woodland had minimal scoring chances and Hodgdon goalie Emily Jurson had two exceptional defensive stops, according to her coach.
“She made the first stop with about two minutes left in the first half when she dove to her right to make a save on a ball deflected on a corner kick,” Fitzpatrick explained.
However, the game-saving stop came with three minutes left in the second overtime when she attacked Woodland’s striker placing her in a one-on-one situation.
“I thought the game was over,” Fitzpatrick said. “But, Emily came out like she was supposed to and deflected a hard shot away from the net.”
Jurson preserved the shutout and forced the game into penalty kicks.
“We practiced penalty kicks quite a bit in the days leading up to the game,” Fitzpatrick said. “Woodland wasn’t a high-scoring team all year and we struggled to score, as well. I kind of figured it might come down to penalty kicks.”
In the shootout, Shannon Martin, Taylor Hovey and Chelsea Sloat gave the Lady Hawks the win, making each of their kicks. Sloat’s kick was significant in that if she had missed, Woodland had the opportunity to tie on their last attempt.
Hodgdon goalie Jurson had 28 saves on 33 shots faced, while Woodland’s goalie Cynthia Bergin blocked 14 of 16 shots.
Being the underdog in the game on top of traveling, Fitzpatrick was happy with the way his squad responded.
“It was a very good win,” he said.
Top-ranked Hornets sting Lady Warriors
The No. 1 Ashland Hornets blanked visiting Southern Aroostook, 4-0, on Saturday in Ashland.
The Lady Warriors’ defense couldn’t stand up to the duo of Jacky Raymond and Whitney Flint. Raymond had three goals all off Flint passes. Flint also netted a goal, assisted by Macie Pelkey.
Ashland keeper Taylor Baker blocked seven shots. The orange players will test their skills against Katahdin today in a semifinal.
Emily Cummings set back eight of 13 shots for SACS who finishes at 7-8-1.
The Lady Warriors exploded in the second half of their Class D preliminary game last Wednesday with a 7-1 victory over visiting Central Aroostook of Mars Hill.
The Panthers opened the scoring when Alex Dame connected for an unassisted goal to give her team a 1-0 lead, but SACS’ Rochelle Nadeau provided the tying goal to keep the team’s even at halftime, 1-all.
Then, the Lady Warriors had three players score two goals apiece in the second half to break the game wide open.
Brittany Charette was left unmarked in front of the net, fielding a cross from Nadeau from the right side, she punched the ball to the right of CAHS’ goalie Robyn Graham, who had no chance at making a stop to score the eventual game-winner. Then, Liz Goodall showed her foot strength, again beating the defense, she bulleted a shot at Graham from about six yards out for a 3-1 Lady Warriors lead.
After two misses — one that went wide and the other rang the goal post — Janel Rockwell finally hit the back of the twine.
To close out the game, Charette, Goodall and Rockwell each scored another tally.
Southern Aroostook goalie Emily Cummings turned back 12 of 17 shots, while CAHS’ Graham had 19 saves against 36 shots.