It’s been a successful season for several local soccer teams and five of them will be competing for regional soccer championships Wednesday.
Central Aroostook is the top seed in Class D North for both girls and boys and will host a doubleheader in Mars Hill.
At 2:30 p.m., the third meeting of the season between the Panthers’ and Ashland Hornets’ girls teams will take place. Central Aroostook won at Ashland way back on Aug. 23, 5-1, but in the rematch in Mars Hill Oct. 9, the teams played to a 1-1 draw. It was the only blemish to what otherwise has been a perfect season for the Panthers, who enter the match with a 15-0-1 record.
Central Aroostook, which has beaten No. 9 Bangor Christian and No. 5 Katahdin so far in the playoffs, is going for its first-ever regional championship. Coach Joe Levesque’s Panthers have just one senior on the team in center midfielder Olivia Pelletier, but boast a number of talented and experienced players including Kate Levesque, who as a junior has scored 103 career goals; junior center midfielder Breann Bradbury; and sophomore sweeper back Libby Grass.
Will Bridges (2) of the Wildcats gets up high for a header during a corner kick, as Old Town’s Nate Young (19) and Liang-Kang Lin (7) are in on the play during the quarterfinal soccer match played Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Presque Isle. The second-ranked Wildcats take on No. 5 Washington Academy for the Class B North title Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Gehrig Johnson Athletic Complex. (Courtesy of Dave Allen Grapics)
Ashland has now gone 10-0-1 over its last 11 matches since Sept. 11, including two victories over Fort Kent, which will be hosting the Class C regional finals today. The second-seeded Hornets, 13-2-1 overall under coach Peter Belskis, have won the last four D regional titles and garnered state championships in both 2014 and 2016.
They beat No. 10 Fort Fairfield in the quarterfinals and No. 6 Madawaska in the semis and are led by senior defenders Kassandra Nelson and Olivia Tardie and junior Shelby Stolze, who is battling a leg injury but paces the offense with 26 goals this season.
Following the girls’ contest, at 5 p.m., is the boys’ championship pitting the 16-0 Panthers against the 15-1 Howlers of Penobscot Valley High School, who are ranked second in the division.
Central Aroostook, under coach Wallace Endy, is in the finals for the second consecutive season, having lost last year by a score of 1-0 to Bangor Christian. The Panthers’ road to the title game included a quarterfinal win over No. 9 MSSM and a semifinal victory over No. 4 Madawaska. The Panthers boast a strong defense which has surrendered just five goals all season. Lane Grass leads the backline in front of junior goalkeeper Brayden Bradbury, who has logged 11 shutouts. Hunter Wardwell, a senior, is the team’s leading scorer.
PVHS suffered its only loss of the season in its second game on Sept. 5. Since then, the team has won 14 straight. The Howlers beat No. 7 Schenck in the quarters, avenging their only loss, and then shut out the No. 3 Woodland Dragons in the semifinals.
Presque Isle also is hosting a doubleheader Wednesday as both the Wildcat girls and boys have reached the Class B North finals.
The boys, ranked second under eighth-year coach Joe Greaves, will play No. 5 Washington Academy in a match beginning at 4 p.m. at the Gehrig Johnson Athletic Complex turf field. The Wildcats have enjoyed a 13-1-2 record and one of those wins came against the Raiders at home on Oct. 6. It was by a 3-2 margin and came when junior Connor DeMerchant netted the game-winner late in the second overtime period.
Presque Isle bested Old Town in the quarterfinals before stopping Brewer in the semifinals Saturday. Both wins came by shutout and the team now has 10 clean sheets on the season while allowing a total of nine goals.
The ’Cats are a veteran group with nine seniors on the roster and eight that start. Senior Mason Young has been outstanding in his first year as the starting goalkeeper and Jonah Hudson and Torey Levesque are both Penobscot Valley Conference all-conference defenders. The team’s balanced offense is led by DeMerchant, sophomore Colby Carlisle and senior Zechariah Morse, who along with Hudson are the team’s Maine Soccer Coaches’ Class B North all-star representatives.
The Wildcats are aiming for their first regional title since 2008.
Washington Academy, which dominated in the Class C ranks before moving up to B in 2017, made it into the championship game after edging No. 12 Erskine Academy in the prelim round and No. 4 Gardiner in the quarters and doubling up on top-ranked Caribou in the semis, 4-2. The team, coached by Chris Gardner, comes into the game with a 12-5 overall record.
The Presque Isle girls are hosting the regional championship game for the second year in a row. Last year, they topped Hermon for the crown and this year will face No. 3 Winslow. The game will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Like the boys’ team, the Wildcat girls are senior laden with eight of the nine starting. Madison Michaud, with 36 goals on the season, a school record, leads the offense and Savannah Rodriguez, who has been part of eight shutouts in her nine starts, is the goalkeeper. Both are Maine Soccer Coaches Class B North all-stars. Rodriguez missed seven games with a torn ACL but returned Oct. 4 and has been brilliant.
The Wildcats, coached by Ralph Michaud, are 13-1-2 and their only loss came way back on Sept. 18 at home against Fort Kent. They made it to the finals by beating No. 8 Brewer in the quarterfinal round and edging No. 4 Medomak Valley in overtime in the semis.
Winslow, which plays out of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, has had a very strong season as evidenced by its 16-1 mark. Class A power Bangor handed the Black Raiders their only loss on Sept. 18. Foxcroft Academy, Oceanside and Hermon were the three teams Winslow has beaten in the playoffs so far.
