The season ended the same way it did last year — a semifinal loss to Bangor Christian — but it was still a successful run for the Ashland Hornets boys’ soccer team.
The Hornets, seeded third, topped Penobscot Valley High School in last Tuesday’s Class D North quarterfinal round, 4-1, before falling to the Patriots Saturday, 3-1.
In Saturday’s match, BC took the early lead on a Jonathan Cormier header off a Tyler Welch corner kick. The score remained 1-0 into intermission, but Cormier tallied again following a scramble inside the box after another corner to double the lead.
Ashland got on the board two minutes later when senior Lucas Craig buried a penalty kick and fought hard to try to score the tying goal, but Welch connected on a left-footed volley with 6:35 left to put the game away for the Patriots.
“Bangor Christian controlled most of the play throughout the game, but our guys gave it everything they had and almost tied it up late in the second half,” said Ashland coach Trevor Hews, “we just came up short in the end.”
Steven Bellanceau had eight saves on 15 shots for the Hornets, which ended the year with an 11-4-2 record. Austin Keib had four saves on six shots for Bangor Christian, which advances to play Fort Fairfield in this afternoon’s regional final.
In the quarterfinals, played at home last Wednesday, Ashland senior Kyle Beaulier scored off a Dylan Haley assist to open the scoring with 18:07 left in the first half. Beaulier tacked on a second goal with 6:30 left to begin an offensive flurry that continued throughout the rest of the half.
One minute later, Craig weaved around four PVHS defenders and scored to make it 3-0, but with 1:30 left, the Howlers broke through as Brad McKechnie got to a long ball and beat Bellanceau.
With just two seconds left before intermission, Alex Kaiser scored after collecting a long pass from Craig and touching it past PVHS goalkeeper Jaeden Folster.
The second half was scoreless for both teams, but Hews said his Hornets controlled the action en route to the impressive win over the No. 6 Howlers.
Bellanceau made just two saves for Ashland while facing four shots, while Folster finished with 11 saves on 20 shots for PVHS, which had a record of 7-5-4 overall.
