Houlton girls soccer coach Tim Tweedie is proud of his team’s regular season effort, but he hopes they are not content … not yet anyway.
“While I am definitely proud of the great regular season we had, I hope that the girls aren’t satisfied with that because from what I can predict, we drew an awfully tough path through the Eastern Maine tournament,” he said.
Tweedie noted highlights of the regular season to include the following: the Houlton girls outscored their opponents 64-6 on the season; the most goals allowed in any game was one; and the girls finished with a perfect record on the road, 7-0.
“It certainly has been a fun season so far,” he said. “But, we are going right back to work because we have our work cut out for us in the playoffs.”
The Houlton girls are the top team in Eastern Maine Class C girl rankings with a 12-0-2 record, drawing ties with Fort Kent, 0-0 on Sept. 12 and Orono, 1-1, last Saturday. Both games were played in Houlton.
“While we are going in ranked number one and we finished with an undefeated record, I still feel like we are the underdogs,” Tweedie noted.
It appears that the Lady Shires may meet Madawaska in their quarterfinal game. The teams have met twice on the regular season, with Houlton winning both times, 2-1 at home in their opening contest of the year and 6-0 in their second meeting in October.
“They are a very good team and they are very well coached,” said Tweedie. “Madawaska has a very proud and strong tradition in soccer, so I can guarantee you that they won’t simply lay down for us because we’re the No. 1 seed.”
Should the Lady Shires continue their winning ways, the playoff road will continue to gauge the girls’ resolve.
“It looks as if Fort Kent could be there waiting for us,” Tweedie said. “While we were able to get a win and a tie against them in the regular season, both games were very evenly played and could have gone either way. Their only three losses were once to us and twice to Presque Isle. They were all 2-1 goal games. So needless to say, they would not be an easy semifinal matchup.”
And, then there is Orono, the defending Eastern Maine champions, who Houlton tied 1-all on Saturday. The teams played a scoreless first half in which Orono outshot Houlton, 12-6.
The Red Riots scored what seemed the game-winner with 3:43 left in the game off a through ball up the middle. However, coach Tweedie said the Emily Mooers “pulled a rabbit out of her hat.” Mooers took a pass from Claire Gilpatrick and scored the equalizer with 1:07 remaining in regulation. Neither team was able to score in the overtime.
Houlton goalie Katie Condon turned back 14 of 20 shots, while Orono’s Kaitlin Richards stopped 11 of 13 shots. Orono is 10-1-2 on the year.
“Make no mistake, Orono outplayed us the entire game on Saturday and the road to the Eastern Maine title will still run through them,” said Tweedie. “Offensively, they are extremely explosive and we know that we’d have to play better to win if we were to meet up with them at some point. They had us back on our heels for most of Saturday’s game.”
Last Wednesday, the Lady Shires blanked host Mattanawcook Academy, 6-0, behind four goals (one in the first and three in the second half) from freshman Kolleen Bouchard. Madeline Anderson and Emma Drew scored Houlton’s other goals. Condon set back seven of nine shots, while the Lynx’ Jhonna Jordan stopped 17 of 28 shots.
Even though the Houlton girls are in the hunt, Fort Kent and Orono have become familiar foes as for the last three years they have battled for the Eastern Maine title.
“They both have excellent teams this year,” said Tweedie. “Both of those teams have a ton of older players with playoff experience and we’re relying on a lot of young kids. We will have to be ready because I’m sure they’re both hungry to knock us off and it appears as though we may have to go through both teams in order win an EM title.”
