HOWLAND, Maine — The Ashland Hornets scored four times in the second half to break a 1-1 deadlock and defeat the PVHS Howlers Wednesday, 5-1, to win their fourth consecutive Class D regional girls’ soccer championship.
Seniors Morgan Doughty and Amber Chasse spearheaded the offensive attack by combining for all five goals, which were all scored on each other’s assists. Doughty netted three goals and Chasse had the other two.
Morgan Doughty of the Ashland Hornets dribbles the ball into the offensive zone against PVHS’s Emma Buck during Wednesday’s Class D North championship game in Howland. (Courtesy of Michelle Fournier)
Chasse collected a back pass from Doughty and fired in a shot from 30 yards out 1:51 into the second half for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
Doughty scored off a Chasse pass by connecting on a left-footed shot from 25 yards out just 6:32 into the match to give Ashland the early lead, but top-ranked PVHS came up with the equalizer with 9:39 left before intermission when Lexi Ireland buried a low shot, also with her left foot, from inside the 18-yard line.
After Chasse’s go-ahead goal in the second half, Ashland put in three more for insurance. Doughty found the back of the net, again from about 30 yards out, off Chasse’s pass at the 19:26 mark. Less than two minutes later, Doughty’s direct kick from long distance found Chasse on the far post and she drilled it past Howler goalkeeper Page Thibodeau to give the Hornets a three-goal lead.
Doughty capped the scoring by converting off a Chasse cross with 5:36 to play.
“[PVHS] usually likes to run two or three reserves in at a time, but we controlled the ball a lot in the second half and as a result they couldn’t substitute as much, and I think they lost their energy,” said Ashland Coach Peter Belskis. “It was a physical game, but I think we matched their aggressiveness and that was another key.”
Doughty and Chasse lead the Hornets in scoring this season with 32 and 31 goals, respectively, and Belskis said the duo controlled the game despite the poor field conditions due to the heavy rains over the previous few days.
“Morgan and Amber pretty much willed us to that win,” said Belskis.
Ashland captured the Class D regional championship for the fourth consecutive year Wednesday, topping PVHS in the finals. From left are Hornet seniors Briana Harris, Micayla Driscoll, Morgan Doughty, Megan Cote, Amber Chasse, Alexis Craig and MacKenzie Carter. (Courtesy of Michelle Fournier)
“We played the game to the wings and had to attack that way, and it worked,” he added. “You could tell those two seniors were on a mission and they led us.”
Ashland’s defense also played a key role in limiting the Howlers’ formidable offense to only four shots the entire game. Marking backs Kassandra Nelson and Olivia Tardie helped hold down the talented PVHS duo of Ireland and Riley Buck, who combined for 41 goals this season.
The Hornets, who came in as the No. 2 seed and are now 16-1 overall, outshot the Howlers by a 24-4 margin.
Thibodeau finished with eight saves for 14-3 PVHS, while Ashland’s Megan Cote turned away three of the four shots she faced.
The Hornets will be gunning for their third state championship in four years on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in Hampden. The opponent will be Richmond, who Ashland has faced each of the last four seasons. The Hornets won in 2014 and 2016, while the Bobcats prevailed in 2015.
