By Jane Mavor
Special to the Aoostook Republican
CARIBOU – With rain wreaking havoc for many outdoor activities lately, it held off nicely last Thursday afternoon at the Caribou soccer fields.
jMavor Photography photo
Goalie Morgan Swan of Caribou red, diverts a corner kick against Presque Isle 1 team in the 7v7 round robin soccer tourney held at Caribou High School last week. Presque Isle walked away with the win in this prelim game.
Although the morning brought periods of pouring rain that left areas of the soccer fields wet and soggy, the afternoon gave way to brief periods of sunshine. This gave Caribou varsity girls coach Todd Albert reason to be glad he made the judgment call to continue on with his annual event.
“This was the fifth year for the girls 7 versus 7 round robin soccer tourney, and the largest tournament that we have had with 16 teams from 11 different schools participating,” Albert said.
Mattanawcook, Easton, Fort Fairfield, Washburn, Ashland, Fort Kent, and Central Aroostook each had one team registered. Houlton, Madawaska and Presque Isle came with two teams, and Caribou had three teams participating. With that many athletes to play, and fields modified, a coordinated effort for smooth transition between games was important, Albert said.
jMavor Photography photo
Paige Small of the Caribou red team takes a shot on goal and scores again for a hat trick against Easton. The Vikings won the prelim game 3-2.
The 16 teams were divided into two groups of eight, and each team played seven 15-minute games against each other. Kick off started promptly at 1 p.m. teams were off to getting their soccer legs again, crossbars were hit, corner kicks were adjusted and the new influx of incoming freshmen tried to match up against seasoned players.
After group play, the playoffs matched the top four teams from each group against each other. Eight teams participated in the quarter finals. In the semi-finals, teams appeared to be evenly matched. Fort Kent beat Caribou yellow on penalty kicks, Presque Isle 2 beat Caribou green with penalty kicks and in the final Fort Kent came away with the tourney title after beating Presque Isle 2, once again, with penalty kicks.
jMavor Photography photo
Caribou senior Sarae Sager, assists goalie Morgan Swan with defense to block a shot taken by Carla Halvorson of Easton.
