Staff Writer
HOULTON – The seedings held up in girl’s Class D soccer, as the number-one ranked Ashland Hornets won the program’s first Eastern Maine Class D title since 1996 with a 2-0 win over No. 2 Bangor Christian last Friday in Ashland. 
CLEARS THE BALL – Hope Heath of Katahdin clears the ball during last Wednesday’s semifinal game against host Ashland. The undefeated Hornets, 15-0-2, will face second-ranked Western Maine champion Richmond, a 3-0 winner over No. 1 Greenville, for the state title.
Last Wednesday, the Lady Hornets capitalized on Katahdin mistakes to pick up a 3-0 semifinal win at home.
“We came out flat, got caught flat and gave up two quick goals,” said Katahdin coach Phil Faulkner. “We lost our momentum.”
Ashland scored their first goal 20 minutes into the game and then added another tally with five minutes left in the opening half.
“We couldn’t get a goal in the net to get us started,” Faulkner said.
In a couple of games this season, the Lady Cougars started slow, but they were able to recover in the second half.
Photograph courtesy of Bob Hennessey
ATTACK – Kali Rush of Katahdin attacks a loose ball, as an Ashland player gives chase as well. The Lady Cougars’ season finished last Wednesday with a 3-0 loss in the Class D semis to eventual regional winner Ashland.
“Against a good team like Ashland, we just could not make it up,” said Faulkner. “It was probably as a team, not taking anything away from Ashland, one of the worst games we’ve played all year, with the whole team not doing well.”
Crystal Cook, Whitney Flint and Jacky Raymond scored all of Ashland’s tallies, while Cook and Mindy Chasse added assists for the 14-0-2 Hornets.
With Ashland ahead 2-0, Faulkner made a decisive move as the clock was getting into the last 20 minutes of the game.
“I switched some people around,” he explained. “It was at a time where we could get some other kids in, let them play and get them into a position for next year.”
During that lineup adjustment, the Hornets scored their final goal of the game.
Katahdin goalie Kayla Stevens blocked 15 of 24 shots, as the Lady Cougars end their season at 9-5-2. Ashland goalie Taylor Baker stopped all eight shots she faced.
“The girls played hard, but we didn’t execute as well as we had bee doing,” Faulkner said of the semifinal game. “They gave 110 percent. They were a fun team to be with. There was a lot of humor and a lot of hard work. These kids were dedicated and they just wanted to play and have fun, which we did.”
The Lady Cougars will have two key defensive positions to fill next season, stopper and goalie.
“Our stopper, Jasmine Cyr, could hit the ball as well as anyone on the team,” Faulkner said, “and Kayla has been our goalie for the last three years. We have two big holes to fill.”
But Faulkner is hopeful that next year’s squad will bounce back like this year’s team did.
“We had five graduate last year and two didn’t come out for the team,” said Faulkner. “We filled those holes with young kids.”
Photograph courtesy of Bob Hennessey
PASSES – Katahdin’s Jalisa Moore gets rid of the ball on a pass against Ashland defense in last Wednesday’s semifinal game in Ashland. The Lady Cougars lost 3-0 to the eventual Class D champion Ashland Hornets.
