PI girls meet Vikings in quarterfinal soccer
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Wildcat girls are onto the quarterfinals and a third meeting on the season against a familiar rival.
Thanks to Saturday’s 4-0 blanking of No. 12 Mount Desert Island in a preliminary playoff taking place at the Gehrig Johnson Athletic Complex, No. 5 PI (10-3-2) will travel to Caribou (11-3-1) for a 6 p.m. meeting tonight against the fourth-ranked Vikings, who defeated Gardiner in their prelim match, 6-0.
The scores were 2-1 in both regular season matchups, with the second one in Caribou on Oct. 12 needing overtime before being decided on a goal by freshman Paige McHatten.
“I feel it will come down to who capitalizes on their opportunities better,” said PI coach Ralph Michaud of tonight’s contest. “There are usually four or five good chances to score in our games.”
Caribou will be without its leading scorer, junior Searra Herbert, who coach Todd Albert said suffered a torn ACL early in the second half against Gardiner. Herbert posted 23 goals and five assists on the season.
“Everyone will have to pick it up a little bit and play better,” Albert said.
The winner will play either No. 9 Winslow or No. 1 Hermon in the semifinal round later this week.
In the Wildcats’ prelim game, Madison Michaud increased her season goal total to 23 after scoring three of the team’s four goals against MDI. Tori Koch added the other goal and Mackenzie Turner, Charlotte Carrier and Molly Kingsbury all had assists.
“I thought we played a complete game and our focus was tremendous in the second half,” coach Michaud said.
Savannah Rodriguez picked up her fourth shutout of the season in goal, saving four of five shots. Cassie Barnes made 12 saves on 20 shots for the Trojans, which ended up with a 5-10 record.
