Fort Fairfield boys, Ashland girls
go to OT to win soccer crowns
They both needed overtime, but the Fort Fairfield boys and the Ashland girls earned the opportunity to play for Class D state soccer championships with wins in the regional finals held last Wednesday.
The Tiger boys spoiled Bangor Christian’s chance to advance to the state finals for the seventh consecutive year with a 2-1 victory, while the Hornet girls got back in the state final thanks to their 1-0 win over Madawaska.
In the boys game played in Fort Fairfield, the Tigers found themselves behind just 4:47 into the contest, but battled back with a second-half goal to tie it and the game-winner 3:26 into the second overtime.
For the second consecutive game, freshman forward Jonah Daigle provided the heroics. Five days after scoring the only goal in the semifinal victory over Central Aroostook, Daigle did it again in the final in similar fashion, beating a defender down the right side and from near the end line, toeing in a shot that found the back of the net.
“He’s an animal … he just battles and comes out winning balls,” said Fort Fairfield junior center midfielder Ryan Player, who assisted on Daigle’s goal.
“[Jonah] was fatigued at the end, but he continued to put the pressure on,” said Tiger coach John Ala. “I don’t know how many 50-50 balls he won, but his effort definitely helped us get a win.”
Johnathan Cormier had given No. 2 Bangor Christian (15-2) the early lead by skimming a beautifully placed corner kick by John Palmeter off his head and into the net.
With 33:46 left in the second half, Fort Fairfield sophomore Isaac Cyr dribbled in and ripped a left-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard line inside the left post and past a diving Austin Keib.
Fort dominated play throughout the second half and the overtime periods, as evidenced by a 16-5 advantage in shots on goal.
Keib finished with five saves on 20 shots, while the Tigers’ Dalton Cassidy saved six of 12.
It is the Tigers’ first regional title since 1976 and snapped a streak of six in a row for the Patriots, who also won five state championships during the stretch.
“They have no weaknesses anywhere,” said Patriot coach Aaron Wilcox, who praised the Tiger defense for its job marking up BC’s high-scoring sophomore, Tyler Welch. Fort Fairfield junior Chris Giberson had the assignment.
“We like to possess it as much as possible and we didn’t do a very good job of that today,” Wilcox added, “but in a lot of spurts they outplayed us and I thought they were more hungry.”
In the girls game, played at the Dr. Gehrig T. Johnson Athletic Complex at the Presque Isle Middle School because of the unplayable field in Ashland, the No. 3 Owls and top-seeded Hornets were in a scoreless tie through regulation and the first 3:15 of overtime before Morgan Doughty’s free kick from 25 yards out bounced off the head of a Madawaska defender and into the net.
“We have a set play on that and Morgan hit it hard and where she was supposed to,” said Ashland coach Peter Belskis. “We just wanted her to put it in close and see what happens and were fortunate to get somebody’s head and it ricocheted in.”
The victory, which improved Ashland’s record to 17-0, was also made possible due to the strong effort in goal by junior Megan Cote. She made three diving saves, including one off a Hannah Nadeau shot from 10 yards out with 5:40 left in regulation, to keep Madawaska off the scoreboard.
Cote, who collected six saves, came up with a big sliding stop in the first 10 minutes of the match, and she said that got her into the game early.
“I’ve never played like that before,” Cote said. “It just motivates you so much that you say, ‘If I can do it once, I can do it all the time.’”
Madawaska (13-3-1) held the 13-12 advantage in shots and Owl coach Dan Cyr’s ability to make multiple substitutions throughout made things tough for the Hornets.
“If that one goes another five minutes [in regulation], it would have been theirs because we were running out of gas,” Belskis said.
The Owls’ senior goalkeeper, Alexis Levesque, also displayed great hands from the start, thwarting several long Hornet shots with grabs in front of the goal.
Ashland defenders Laura Sturgeon, who marked Nadeau throughout, and Micayla Driscoll turned in brilliant performances as the Hornets picked up their 13th shutout. The Madawaska defense was also stellar in holding the high-scoring trio of Savannah Flint, Mackenzie Carter and Caitlin Paradis without a goal.