The Caribou soccer teams made their regular season debut Friday with matches at Fort Kent and both the Viking girls and boys scored victories. Other games also were played last week by Easton, Wisdom, Ashland, Fort Fairfield, Washburn and Van Buren.
The Caribou girls eased past the Warriors, 7-1, with senior Searra Herbert leading the winning offense with four goals. Gabrielle Marquis, Hope Shea and Willow Whitten contributed a goal apiece, while Amanda Thibeault had the lone Fort Kent goal.
Caribou enjoyed a 26-6 advantage in shots on goal. Jaelynn Doody and Sage Dubay split the duties for the Vikes and combined for five saves. Warrior goalkeepers Lyndsay Ouellette and Sylvie Guimond made 14 saves.
“I thought we controlled possession well and created some good scoring chances,” said Caribou coach Todd Albert. “We still have some areas to work on, but this was a very good start to the season.”
The Viking boys looked impressive in shutting out the Warriors, 2-0. Sophomore Hayden Hunter scored a first-half goal off an Alex Ezzy assist and Parker Deprey, another sophomore, added an insurance tally in the second half.
“Anytime you can go up to Fort Kent and come away with a win, you’ve accomplished something,” said Scott Hunter, Caribou’s coach. “This will give our young team some confidence moving forward.”
Hunter praised his jjunior goalkeeper, Noah Hixon, for making some big saves in the second half and said junior midfielder Ezzy, “our field general who is as good as anybody in Class B,” played a great match.
Fort Kent was blanked despite outshooting the Vikes, 23-15.
“I think our boys played with a determination that they were going to do everything they could to win that game, and that was very pleasing to see,” Hunter added.
The Easton boys handed the Wisdom Pioneers their first loss Friday, capturing a 4-3 victory. Kooper Kinney, Isaac Currier, Ryan West and Gavin Pangburn were the goal scorers for the Bears, who improved to 2-1.
Dylan Weyeneth scored two goals and Corey Franck had the other for 3-1 Wisdom. Easton goalkeeper Collin Sotomayor saved five of nine shots and the Pioneers’ Jack Guerrette saved nine of 17.
The Bears’ girls team is still looking for its first win after falling in overtime to Wisdom Friday, 4-3. Bailey Bellefleur notched the game winner in the second overtime period.
Delia Bonner scored all three Easton goals, one off an assist from Matigan Dow. The Bears are now 0-3, while the Pioneers are 3-1.
A pair of soccer doubleheaders also were played Saturday — one in Ashland and the other in Van Buren.
At Ashland, the Hornet girls cruised to their third consecutive win to begin the season, 14-0 over winless Fort Fairfield (0-4). Shelby Stolze and Amber Chasse both registered hat tricks and Morgan Doughty scored twice and racked up four assists. Single goals were scored by Micayla Driscoll, Jamie Poulin, Danni Carter, Kassandra Nelson, Olivia Tardie and Willow Hall.
Goalkeeper Megan Cote needed to make just one save in recording her second shutout of the season.
The Fort Fairfield boys topped the Hornets, 5-0, as Isaac Cyr tallied twice and assisted on another. Jonah Daigle, Wyatt Keegan and Chris Gill also scored for the Tigers, now 2-2.
The Washburn girls are now 2-2 after freshman Madison Miller had a hand in all of her team’s goals in the 4-0 triumph at Van Buren. Miller assisted on a goal by eighth-grader Lura Page to open the scoring and then was credited with the assist on junior Alexis Carney’s goal later in the first half. Miller then scored two goals herself after intermission, one off a Page assist. Carly Bragg saved five of nine shots for the shutout in goal.
The Beaver boys’ record fell to 0-4 following a 2-1 loss to the Crusaders. Luc Perreault scored the game-winning goal with just under four minutes remaining in regulation.
Dylan Henry scored Washburn’s goal and Noah Pelletier had the other Van Buren goal.
In soccer action today, the Hodgdon teams play their first regular season matches when they travel north to Washburn. Both games begin at 4 p.m.
