HOULTON, Maine — Sometimes it takes a couple of years to avenge a devastating playoff loss. Such was the case for Houlton girls soccer coach Tim Tweedie as the No. 2 Shires faced No. 7 Fort Kent Wednesday evening in a Class C North quarterfinal.
Two years ago, the Warriors beat Houlton, 1-0, for the Eastern Maine championship in a game decided by penalty kicks.
On Wednesday, it was the Shires’ turn to bounce Fort Kent from the postseason. Second-seeded Houlton jumped out to an early lead and played stingy defense in the second half to pick up a 3-1 victory over Fort Kent.
The Shires (12-1-2) will host No. 3 Penquis of Milo, tentatively at 1 p.m. Saturday, in the Class C North semifinal game. The Warriors end their season at 7-6-2.
Junior Kolleen Bouchard scored two goals, and junior Mia Hanning added an insurance goal for Houlton, which scored all three of its goals in the first half. Junior Tyra Gentle and senior Mackenzie Hunt each had one assist for the Shires.
Bouchard struck quickly, five minutes into the game, as she took a pass from Gentle and buried it into the lower left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Bouchard scored again with 16:48 to play in the first half as she fielded a pass from Hunt on a direct kick and beat Fort Kent goalkeeper Morgan Roy for a 2-0 lead. Hanning scored her goal with 6:27 to play to make it 3-0.
Fort Kent freshman Dolcie Tanguay scored the only goal for the Warriors with 3:18 to play in the first half.
“Fort Kent played a great second half, but we were able to do a few things defensively to get the win,” Tweedie said. “We are a pretty good defensive team, having given up only 12 goals on the season. We wanted to make it as hard as possible to get three goals to beat us.”
Neither team was able to muster many quality shots in the second half as Houlton stiffened defensively thanks to a few key moves. Gentle moved from striker to midfield to give Houlton a boost.
“I feel we dominated in the first half, but [Fort Kent] definitely won more 50-50 balls in the second half,” Gentle said. “Coach moved me to midfield, so I could play more defense because we were already up two goals. I just tried to clear the ball upfield as much as I could.”
The Shires have been playing without the services of the team’s starting goalie, Tessa Solomon, who suffered a season-ending injury Oct. 10 in a 3-0 loss to Madawaska. Tweedie turned to junior Aspen Flewelling to take over in net, despite the fact she had not played there previously.
“It’s tough losing Tessa, but we were fortunate enough to have an athlete of Aspen’s caliber to step right in,” he said. “That being said, it does hurt us in the field, because she did a lot of other things for us as a stopper, and she also could score as she had eight goals on the season.”
Flewelling had three saves on four shots, and Fort Kent’s Roy had five saves on eight shots.
Fort Kent coach Robby Nadeau tipped his hat to Houlton’s defensive prowess for limiting the Warriors’ scoring chances.
“I’ve coached against Tim for a while,” Nadeau said. “We knew [the Shires] were going to be well-coached, and well-coached teams do not give up a ton of shots.”
Nadeau felt his team came out aggressively in the second half as the Warriors tried to claw their way back from a two-goal deficit.
“I thought we dominated play in the second half, and I am very happy with the effort tonight, and all season,” Nadeau said. “We had our chances, but sometimes the ball doesn’t go in the net. We are a very young team, so I think we will be back here again next year.”
