Preliminary round slated for Friday and Saturday
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Easton boys and the Washburn girls have earned No. 1 seeds for the upcoming high school soccer playoffs. There were still a handful of games played Tuesday and the standings won’t become official until sometime today, but the Bears and Beavers will be the top-ranked teams in Eastern Maine Class D.
The Bears, with their 13-0-1 record, held off perennial state champion Bangor Christian for first place, while Washburn’s win over the Fort Fairfield girls Monday secured the Beavers home field advantage throughout the regionals.
As of Tuesday at presstime, in the ‘D’ boys standings, Ashland was third, Washburn ninth, Central Aroostook 10th and Fort Fairfield 12th and all have earned playoff berths. The top 15 out of the 22 in the division qualify for the post-season and Easton is the lone team that will earn a bye into the quarterfinal round.
Washburn’s preliminary-round opponent has already been determined. The team will play at No. 9 Penobscot Valley in Howland Friday at noon.
For the girls, Ashland is No. 2, Fort Fairfield No. 3, Central Aroostook No. 7 and Easton No. 11. All four teams join Washburn in the playoffs as the top 13 out of the 19 make it, with the Panthers and Bears having to play preliminary playoff matches Friday.
In Class B, the Presque Isle boys were in fourth place as of Tuesday, while the girls were in 11th. The top 13 teams in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions advance to the playoffs.
If the standings hold, the Wildcat boys would host a preliminary playoff game Saturday and the girls would be on the road for their contest.
The girls’ quarterfinals are set for Tuesday, Oct. 29, with the boys’ games taking place Wednesday, Oct. 30.
To wrap up the regular season, highlighting the girls’ action was a showdown in Washburn between the Fort Fairfield Tigers and the Beavers.
The Beavers had their way and junior striker Mackenzie Worcester made history in the process as she scored five times to increase her career total to 103.
Laina Mette scored twice and Kennedy Churchill once in Washburn’s 8-1 win. Joan Overman had four assists and Carmen Bragg two for the winners, whose final record is 13-1.
Logan Bubar scored the lone goal for Fort Fairfield, which had also beaten Van Buren last week, 6-1, behind Bubar’s hat trick.
Washburn also blanked Wisdom, 6-0, and downed Van Buren, 11-4, in games played last week. Worcester had four goals in each match, with Overman also tallying four against the Crusaders.
The Presque Isle girls ended the regular season with a 3-1 win at John Bapst. Hannah Graham and Kaleigh Kinney had a goal apiece, with Megan Seward also notching her first career varsity goal. The Wildcats had lost at home to Caribou last Wednesday, 3-1, with Taylor Williams scoring the lone PI goal.
The Ashland girls picked up a 7-2 win over Van Buren and a 2-1 triumph over Central Aroostook to finish 13-1.
On the boys’ side, the Bears closed things out with an 11-0 win over East Grand, as well as a 1-0 victory over Central Aroostook and a 5-0 verdict against Limestone-MSSM. The three shutouts increased Easton’s season total to seven. Coach Ryan Shaw’s team has allowed only one goal over its last seven matches.
Drew Sotomayor scored the game’s only goal off a deflection in the win over the Panthers. Logan Halvorson scored five times against the Vikings and added two more in the victory over the Eagles.
Ashland celebrated Senior Night Saturday with a 2-0 blanking of Van Buren. Adam Sessoms, one of the team’s seniors, scored the first two goals of his career to account for the offense. Tim Tarr made six saves for the shutout in goal.
The Presque Isle boys won two more matches last week and the first came in dramatic fashion. Trailing 1-0 with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Ben Nickerson scored off a Devin Schinhofen assist to tie visiting Caribou and then Nickerson came through with the game-winning goal three minutes into the first overtime.
The Wildcats used goals by Aaron Kofstad, Ansu Morrow and Cooper Madore to stop John Bapst Saturday, 3-1, in their finale played in Bangor to finish at 11-2-1.
