High-scoring Hornet girls reach title game
The Ashland girls outscored opponents by a whopping margin of 111-6 during their 14 regular season matches and the beat has continued in the playoffs.
The Hornets are back in the Class D North regional championship game after an 11-0 blanking of Central Aroostook Saturday in a semifinal game played at Ashland District School.
Next up for the No. 1-ranked and 16-0 Hornets are the Madawaska Owls, a 2-0 winner over Penobscot Valley High School in a match played Monday in Howland. Madawaska is the No. 3 seed and comes in with a 12-4 record.
The title game will be played at 4 p.m. this afternoon in Ashland.
The teams did not play each other during the regular season but did meet up in last year’s championship game, with the Hornets prevailing, 1-0.
On Saturday, the Hornets scored early and often against the Panthers, who lost to Ashland by scores of 5-1 and 6-2 during the regular season. The home team scored 7:49 into the match as Mackenzie Carter converted off a Shelby Stolze assist.
Carter was just getting started as she scored four more goals before halftime and ended up with six overall. She now has 51 goals on the season and 111 for her career, both Ashland records.
Morgan Doughty added two goals, which came 45 seconds apart late in the first half and gave Ashland an 8-0 advantage at intermission.
Stolze finished with a goal and two other assists and Willow Hall and Cassidy Pelletier were Ashland’s other scorers.
Megan Cote delivered her 11th shutout of the season in goal for Ashland. She had 12 saves in the match.
Caitlyn Harris made 19 saves for the fourth-seeded Panthers (11-5).
The Hornets’ first playoff game was played last Wednesday at home against Southern Aroostook. The Warriors provided little resistance as the Hornets came away with an 8-0 verdict.
Carter and Stolze netted a pair of goals each. Carter posted three assists, while Kassandra Nelson, Jamie Poulin, Doughty and Hall contributed a goal apiece. Cote did not face a single shot the entire match.
Sydney Brewer made 19 saves on 26 shots in goal for the Warriors, who finished with an 8-5-3 record.
The Central Aroostook Panthers advanced to the semifinals thanks to a 9-3 victory over Katahdin last Wednesday in Mars Hill.
The game was close after 30 minutes, but the Panthers put in a late goal before intermission to make it 3-1. They erupted for six goals in the second half to win going away.
“We made a couple of adjustments at the half and were able to capitalize on both ends of the field,” said CA coach Joe Levesque.
The Panthers welcomed back Kelsey Dominique, who had missed most of the season due to injury, and she gave the team a lift, according to Levesque. Harris (10 saves on 13 shots) was back in goal after missing the last part of the regular season due to a hand injury.
Freshman Kate Levesque scored five of the goals for CA, increasing her season total to 37. She also had two assists. Jadeyn Giberson had three goals and an assist and Kayla Martin had a goal and an assist.
Erin Robinson scored twice for the Cougars, the No. 5 team which finished up at 7-6-3.
