Aroostook Republican Sports Staff
It was a relatively quiet week for girls’ soccer squads as only a handful of games were played, due to the annual fall harvest recess. Teams are scurrying to improve their playoff positions as the regular season is rapidly coming to a close.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
Morgan Swan of the Caribou Vikings charges toward the net and gets off a shot during Saturday’s match against Old Town, played at CHS. Caribou had to settle for a 1-1 overtime tie with the Coyotes. Caribou has an important match at Presque Isle tonight beginning at 7 p.m.
The regular season comes to an end Tuesday, Oct. 20, with preliminary playoffs commencing Oct. 23-24. For girls’ soccer, seven of the eight local squads appear to be playoff bound, according to the most recent Maine Principals’ Association Heal Points standings. Presque Isle, Caribou, Ashland, Central Aroostook, Limestone-MSSM and Fort Fairfield are in the postseason mix, while Washburn is not. The Beavers have two games remaining on their schedule and will need to pick up wins in both of those contests, and get a little bit of help as well, if they hope to get back into the playoff hunt.
In Eastern Class D, Ashland (9-2, 40.3827 points) is second; Easton (9-4-1, 33.6607) is third; Central Aroostook (4-7-1, 31.1352) is fifth; Fort Fairfield (6-2-1, 30.7015) is sixth; Limestone-MSSM (5-5-1, 25.5230) is seventh; and Washburn (2-7-3, 19.1454) is 10th. Southern Aroostook (13-0, 83.2908) is the top seed. Only the top eight teams make the playoffs in this region.
In Eastern Class B, Presque Isle (10-0, 78.4439 points) is second and Caribou (7-2-1, 53.3801) is fifth. Winslow (11-0, 94.4643) is ranked first. The top nine teams qualify for the playoffs.
Caribou 1, Old Town 1 (2OT) — At Caribou Saturday, it may have taken a goal mistakenly kicked in by an Old Town player for Caribou (7-2-1) to salvage a tie against the Coyotes (7-2-1) at home, but by dominating play for a majority of the contest, Viking coach Todd Albert felt the result was justified.
“Even though it was an own goal, I thought we deserved the result,” Albert said. “I really thought we deserved to win because we played hard for 80 minutes, did well defensively, passed well and created opportunies to score.”
The Coyotes scored the game’s first goal as Katie Deshane scored off a Samantha McLaughlin assist 10 minutes after the opening whistle.
The Vikings had carried play before the goal and continued to put pressure on the net afterwards. With 6:44 to play before intermission, right wing Jamie Martin crossed the ball into the middle of the penalty area. An Old Town defender tried to clear it away, but the ball was mishit and went over Coyote goalkeeper Ashley Abbott and into the net. Martin was credited with the goal on the play.
Each time had a good chance to score in the second half, with a Deshane shot caroming off the right post at the 27:08 mark and Martin’s header following a Caribou corner kick banging off the left post with 9:38 remaining. The Vikings, however, had the better chances throughout but could not put the ball into the goal.
Brittany Doak saved six of 14 shots in goal for Caribou, who take on the undefeated Wildcats in Presque Isle at 7 p.m. tonight.
Abbott turned away 14 of 27 shots in goal for the Coyotes.
