Both Fort Fairfield varsity soccer teams pulled off upsets on the road Friday in preliminary playoff action to earn berths into the quarterfinals.
The Tiger girls traveled to Eastport and as the No. 10 seed surprised the seventh-ranked Shead Tigers, 1-0.
The game was decided early in the first overtime session as Camryn Ala slid a pass to Kourtney West, whose shot was bobbled before Kennedy Bencivenga ran onto it and scored. Caijsa Benson recorded the shutout in goal while facing 15 shots.
Fort Fairfield (8-6-1) next plays No. 2 Ashland (11-2-1) Wednesday at 3 p.m. The Hornets won both regular season meetings by scores of 8-2 and 5-1.
First-year coach Cody Tompkins and his 11th-ranked Tiger boys soccer team made the trip to St. Agatha and shut out the sixth-seeded Pioneers, 2-0.
Colby Langner put Fort Fairfield on the scoreboard 30 minutes into the first half, while Dawson Watson netted an important insurance goal with 10 minutes to go in the match.
“We moved the ball well and got some really good opportunities early on,” Tompkins said. “We were able to capitalize on a set piece and that allowed us to take momentum into the second half, where I thought we played our best half of soccer all season.”
Tiger goalkeeper Kobe West notched the shutout.
The teams had split during the season, with Wisdom winning the first game, 5-1, and Fort Fairfield taking the second by a 2-1 score.
The Tigers play No. 3 Woodland in the next round. The teams do not meet during the regular season. That match was set for Tuesday at 3 p.m.
The Dragons defeated Ashland in the prelim round game played Friday by a score of 5-0. The Hornets went in as the No. 14 seed.
Drew Hayward scored three second-half goals after Chris Plissey put in a pair of goals in the first half to lead Woodland’s attack.
Gabe Page made five saves on 20 shots for Ashland, while the Dragons’ Alex Morrison garnered the shutout with two saves on four shots.
Woodland moved to 14-1, while the Hornets finished with a 2-11-2 mark.
