The Caribou varsity soccer teams have been practicing for three weeks and are anxious for the first matches of the season which are approaching quickly.
The Vikings make the trip to Fort Kent Friday to take on the Warriors. The girls’ game begins at 5 p.m., followed by the boys’ contest at approximately 7 p.m.
Todd Albert returns as the Caribou girls’ coach and Scott Hunter is back with the boys’ program.
The girls went 10-3-1 last season to finish fourth in Class B North. They won their prelim match over Gardiner, 6-0, before losing in the quarterfinals to rival Presque Isle, 4-1.
Searra Herbert suffered a knee injury in the prelim loss that prevented her from playing sports for the remainder of the school year, but the high-scoring forward (23 goals in 2016) returns along with a group of other talented seniors including All-Aroostook choices Hope Shea, Gabrielle Marquis and Danielle Hanson.
The Caribou boys went 3-10-1 last year and did not qualify for the playoffs. Junior Alex Ezzy, an All-Aroostook player last season, leads a youthful Viking boys’ squad.
Regular season action
In games involving local teams played last week, the Fort Fairfield Tigers were beaten at home by Central Aroostook Thursday, 1-0.
Junior Ben Thomas scored the only goal of the match with just 9:52 remaining. He took a cross from the wing and ripped a shot from inside the box into the net. The goal stood up as the Panthers won the defensive battle.
“My players played hard and I feel that we had more possessions,” Central Aroostook coach Wallace Endy said. “Fort is a very physical team, so you have to be physical too.”
Central Aroostook (2-0) outshot the Tigers 21-11, with the Panthers’ Brayden Bradbury saving six shots for the shutout. Malcolm Langner collected 17 saves for the Tigers, who fell to 1-1.
The Panther girls have also won their first two matches following an 8-1 triumph over the Tigers, also on Thursday.
Sophomore Kate Levesque scored CA’s first two and final two goals and assisted on three others, while freshman Libby Grass netted a pair of goals.
Kayla Martin and Janelle Tweedie also tallied goals for the Panthers, while Kennedy Bencivenga, coming off a four-goal performance against Washburn two days earlier, recorded the Tigers’ lone goal.
CA outshot the Tigers (0-2) by a 39-4 margin. Caitlyn Harris made three saves for the winners.
The Tigers squads were back to work Tuesday when they hosted Fort Kent. Fort Fairfield’s next contests are on Saturday in Ashland. The girls’ game is at 11 a.m. and the boys’ game follows at 1 p.m. Easton pays a visit for Fort Fairfield Tuesday, Aug. 29. The boys’ game is at 5 p.m and the girls play at 7 p.m.
The Washburn girls improved to 2-1 with a 4-1 home win over Wisdom Friday. Madison Miller, a freshman, scored two first-half goals and Kassie Farley added a pair of insurance tallies in the second half to lead the Beavers’ offense.
Bailey Bellefleur scored a first-half goal for the 0-1 Pioneers.
Beaver coach Marcie Barbarula said her team did a great job containing the Pioneers’ top two scoring threats, Bellefleur and Breanna Lavoie, for most of the game. Barbarula said Sam Churchill and Alexis Carney drew the marking assignments for Washburn and sweeper Katie Easler and goalie Carly Bragg (nine saves on 14 shots) had strong outings.
The Washburn boys fell to 0-3 after a 5-0 loss to Wisdom that afternoon. The Beavers have now been outscored, 32-0, in their first three matches.
The Beaver teams play Wisdom again this afternoon in St. Agatha at 4 p.m. Washburn follows with games Friday at Van Buren (girls at 5 p.m. and boys at 7 p.m.) and Monday at home against Hodgdon at 4 p.m.
