’Cat boys dominate against Vikes,
but girls lose opener
By Kevin Sjoberg
PRESQUE ISLE – When Aroostook County’s only Class B teams and long-time rivals meet on the soccer field, a hard-fought battle is generally in store. Both the Caribou and Presque Isle girls and boys teams met last Wednesday and Thursday in early-season matchups and the action was intense as usual, with each school coming away with bragging rights for one night.
In the boys game Thursday at the Johnson Athletic Complex, Presque Isle came ready to play from the opening kickoff and scored four first-half goals en route to the 6-0 victory.
FIST PUMP
Contributed photo/Dave Allen Graphics
Junior Wilder York celebrates after scoring a goal in the first half of Presque Isle’s 6-0 victory over Caribou Thursday.
The Wildcats, playing their first home game after opening with a 2-2 tie at Fort Kent, put on a clinic throughout the first half, dominating time of possession and having their way on 50-50 balls at midfield.
“Our intensity during most of the first half, along with our ability to knock the ball around with excellent combination play and precise passing was outstanding,” said PI coach Scott Young. “It would be tough to find many real faults throughout the entire first half.”
The Wildcats outshot the Vikes 21-5 in the first half, and although Wilder York’s shot 1:50 into the game rattled off the left post, his team had several more chances later in the half and took advantage. Isaac Lajoie of the ‘Cats headed in a cross from Jacob Player at the 29:52 mark for a 1-0 lead, and wasted little time making it 2-0 as senior Josh Allen blasted a direct kick from 20 yards out at 28:07 that slipped under the top right corner of the goal.
Caribou’s inability to slow the PI attack resulted in some frustration and a pair of yellow cards being issued late in the half, and the Wildcats took advantage. Allen connected on another long direct kick which was stopped by Caribou keeper Garrett Jordan, but York was there to follow it in for the 3-0 PI lead with 6:05 remaining before intermission. The first-half scoring was completed after Allen took a pass from Caleb Mathers and lined a shot from 15 yards out to the left of Jordan and into the net with 5:07 to play.
“We saw how winners played soccer,” said Caribou coach Mark Shea. “They were a level above us and sustained that for the whole game.”
Presque Isle scored two quick goals to begin the second half, one by Cole Richards off an assist from Player and another by Jonah Stephenson off an Allen assist. That capped the strong offensive performance and the PI defense did the rest in giving goalie Andrew Kofstad his first career shutout. He collected four saves on the evening, while Jordan was credited with 18.
In last Wednesday’s girls game, the Vikings paid a visit and handed Presque Isle its first-ever regular season loss in four years on the artificial turf by a score of 5-3. Caribou, which had beaten PI there in the Eastern Maine semifinals last October in a game decided by penalty kicks, won in more dominant fashion this time around.
The Vikings were down 1-0 after 10 minutes of play before answering the Wildcats’ corner kick goal with one of their own. Paige Small’s corner found Olivia Sleeper open on the far post and she one-timed it past PI goalie Meredith Stewart to knot the score.
“Getting down didn’t bother us because we knew we had a whole game ahead of us,” Selander said. “It’s the score at the end that matters so we kept our heads up and played our game.”
CHARGING THE GOAL
Contributed photo/Dave Allen Graphics
Senior forward Shea Adler approaches the Caribou goalkeeper during an offensive surge in last Wednesday’s match. The Wildcat girls were beaten, 5-3.
Caribou dominated the remainder of the half with some stellar team play and took the lead when Selander took a Katelyn Tardie pass and rocketed a shot from the right side and into the net with 19:31 left before intermission.
Less than eight minutes into the second half, another Small corner resulted in a head goal by Selander to make it 3-1 in favor of the visitors. Ten minutes later, Sleeper scored her second goal of the game on a nice individual sequence which included dribbling through the defense and nailing a shot from 10 yards out for a three-goal cushion.
Chandler Guerrette of the Wildcats, who assisted Kayla Richards for the first goal of the game, scored herself by lofting a 25-yarder over the head of Caribou goalie Morgan Swan with 19:20 to play. The Wildcats, who were playing their opening game of the season, still could not seize the momentum and Selander completed the hat trick at 4:01 by blasting an indirect kick under the crossbar off a tap by Small for the fifth goal.
Presque Isle scored an inconsequential goal with 38 seconds left, by Megan Ireland off a Chelsea Nickerson assist, to account for the final scoring, but the night belonged to the Vikings.
“I was so proud of the way we played as a team,” Selander said. “We were passing the ball like we should and looking up like we should and when that happened, a lot of opportunities came.
“We practiced some indoors this week to get used to passing the ball [on a faster surface]. We worked on sending the ball when we had someone open and we did a good job with that tonight.”
Caribou coach Todd Albert was proud of his team’s performance and said it has been awhile since the Vikings have had some favorable matchups against the Wildcats.
Contributed photo/jMavor Photography
HILLARY ALBERT of the Presque Isle Wildcats, left, plays defense on Caribou’s Katelyn Tardie during last Wednesday’s contest at Presque Isle. The Wildcats fell by a score of 5-3.
“It’s the first time I’ve been able to say in quite awhile that our forwards are a little better than their defenders,” Albert said. “When you put Jamie (Martin) and Olivia one the outside and Jenna up front, it makes it hard for a lot of teams to be able to stay with them.”
On the other hand, Caribou’s team depth was a big reason it was able to control PI’s offensive weapons.
“I tried to rotate players in and out to stay fresh against them, and they did a good job not giving them a lot of room and just containing them,” Albert said.
“In past years, when we had subs come in you could sometimes feel the connecting on the field broken, but I’m not noticing that this year,” Selander added. “We are all together, all the time.”
Shots were even at 18 in the match, with Swan finishing with seven saves for Caribou and Stewart nine for the Wildcats.
