The Shires finished 11-1-2 in the regular season, dominating the opposition by outscoring opponents 67-11. Houlton earned the No. 2 seed in the Class C North playoffs, beating Fort Kent 3-1 in the quarterfinals and besting Penquis 1-0 in the semifinals before falling to eventual state champ Orono 2-1 in the regional championship.
And much of that success stems from the efforts of the Shire coaching staff, particularly head coach Tim Tweedie, who was recently named the Penobscot Valley Conference Class C girls Coach of the Year.
The award marks the third time in the past five years that Tweedie has received the honor. He has coached the Houlton girls soccer team for the past 11 years. Tweedie was selected for the award based on the votes all 14 coaches of teams in the PVC.
In 2014, Tweedie was also named Maine Soccer Coaches State of Maine Girls Coach of the Year, as well as the Small Schools Coach of the Year.
Tweedie said while it was nice to receive the accolades, the team’s success is more because of his players’ solid work ethic and willingness to do what is asked of them than anything he does on the field.
“I have to admit that it was completely unexpected and in fact, I advocated against myself,” Tweedie said. “There are several good coaches in the conference, so to win it three times in five years is certainly very humbling.”
Tweedie said he advocated for Orono coach, Cyd Dyjak as his team finished No. 1 in the conference and has won the state championship each of the past two years. Other coaches, however, cited the fact that Houlton lost nine seniors to graduation, and suffered a couple of key injuries along the way, and yet still found a way to make it to the regional championship.
“I attribute our success to our players being selfless, willing to change positions, and allowing us to coach them in a way in which we take pride in outworking our opponents,” Tweedie said. “I also know that I’m extremely lucky to have good coaches in our system working with our players. Cliff Urquhart is a great coach and to have him there to work with and bounce ideas off of makes my job easier than it would be otherwise.
“Honestly, I do this because I love working with the kids and because I love competing against the other coaches,” he added. “Since I can’t play any more, this is my way of still competing.”
