BANGOR, Maine — The Caribou boys’ soccer team had already surprised one opponent in the playoffs and after a half Thursday it appeared the Vikings had another chance at an upset victory.
However, Winslow’s Isaac Lambrecht had other ideas. He notched three goals in the first six minutes of the second half as the No. 4 Black Raiders went on to defeat the 12th-seeded Vikings, 6-0, at Husson University in the Class B North quarterfinal matchup.
The game was originally supposed to be played Wednesday, Oct. 25, but was delayed by a day and also moved from Winslow to the turf field at Husson due to wet field conditions.
Max Spaulding, Jake Warn and Austin Soucie scored later in the second half for Winslow to account for the final margin of victory.
The first half was fairly even, according to Caribou coach Scott Hunter. Even though the Black Raiders held an 8-6 shot advantage, “we did a great job winning the midfield and keeping them from generating any dangerous scoring opportunities,” Hunter said.
Winslow moved Mike Wildes, the team’s talented center back, into the midfield at the start of the second half and Hunter said the adjustment proved to be favorable for the hosts.
Noah Hixon made 14 saves on 22 shots in the game for Caribou, while the Black Raiders’ all-state goalkeeper, Jake Lapierre, turned away seven of 11 shots.
“In the end, their experience and physical size simply wore us down,” Hunter said. “They started nine seniors and we start two seniors, six sophomores and three juniors.
“Our boys played very hard and with a lot of confidence [early],” Hunter said, “but once they were able to score so quickly in the second half, it knocked us down and we were not able to recover.”
Winslow went on to defeat Erskine Academy in the semifinal game played Saturday and will take on either No. 2 Washington Academy or No. 6 Hermon in Wednesday’s regional championship.
“Winslow is a very talented and deep team and they did what championship-caliber teams do,” Hunter said. “It was good for us to play against the best and that is where we want to be next season.”
