By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Caribou girls’ varsity soccer team had a successful week and it showed up in the most recent release of the Eastern Maine Class B Heal Point standings.
The Vikings have moved into fourth place in the rankings after picking up wins over John Bapst, Fort Kent and Ellsworth in a five-day span which began last Tuesday.
Caribou now has a 7-4 record and trail only the undefeated trio of Waterville, Hermon and Camden Hills in the latest standings. The Vikes topped John Bapst in a match played at UM-Orono last Tuesday, 5-1, before stopping Fort Kent at home Thursday, 5-2, and Ellsworth at home Saturday, 8-4.
“Scoring 18 goals against some pretty good opponents is quite an accomplishment,” said Caribou coach Todd Albert. “Our girls have been playing hard. We have some depth off the bench and the girls have been giving max effort when on the field.”
Junior striker Bria Judd has been on an offensive tear. She scored all five of Caribou’s goals against the Crusaders, netted two more in the win over Fort Kent and had another two against Ellsworth. Sarah Doak, another junior, had four goals and three assists against the Eagles after netting a pair of goals against the Warriors.
In the victory over Fort Kent, Caribou scored three unanswered goals in the second half after the score had been knotted at 2 at intermission. Two days later, Ellsworth scored 15 seconds into the match and held the lead on three occasions during the first half before Caribou stormed back to go ahead at halftime and post four insurance goals over the final 40 minutes of play.
Maddie Doucette had two goals and three assists, Delaney Williams two assists and Eileen Patton a goal and an assist in the two home victories.
The Caribou boys blitzed John Bapst last Wednesday in Bangor, 6-0, before losing 1-0 to EM Class B No. 1 Ellsworth in a home game Saturday afternoon.
The Vikes are now 5-4-1 on the season and in sixth place in the latest Heal Point rankings.
Matt Milliard scored three times in the win over Bapst, while Michael Hunter racked up three assists as Caribou cruised on the road. Four of the team’s goals came off corner kicks, with a fifth scored on a free kick. Cody Herbert added two goals and Kameron Manter the other for the winners. Matthew Manter needed to make just two saves to earn the shutout in goal.
In Saturday’s match, Ellsworth’s Conner McGuire tallied a goal 33 minutes in for the lone goal by either team. Eagle goalkeeper Steve Mahon made five saves on 12 shots for the shutout as his team remained undefeated at 8-0-1. Matthew Manter kept Caribou in contention with a couple great saves and he finished with 12 on 15 shots.
The Limestone-MSSM boys began the season winless in their first eight matches, but have rallied to win their last two contests, both at home. The Eagles needed an overtime goal by Chris Bernier Thursday to get past Hodgdon, 5-4. Tristan Kirk registered a hat trick thanks to two first-half goals and another after coming after intermission. Anas Beshir also scored for Limestone-MSSM.
On Monday, the Eagles bested East Grand, 5-3, behind three goals by Zeb Keith-Hardy and two more from Kirk.
The girls’ team in Limestone did not allow a single goal in turning away Hodgdon Thursday, 8-0, and East Grand Monday, 4-0.
Ellyzabeth Bencivenga was the leading goal scorer in both matches, scoring three in each. Mariah Williams added two against Hodgdon, with Chelsey Pelkey, Jordyn Hopkins and Melissa Cantafio contributing one apiece.
Joining Bencivenga in the scoring column against the Vikings was Williams, with Cantafio and Bencivenga each notching an assist. Hopkins, the Limestone-MSSM goalkeeper, recorded her fourth shutout of the season by saving 14 of 18 shots.
The Eagle girls are now in 12th place in EM Class D, with the top 13 qualifying out of the 19 total teams in the division.
