Sports

The ability to field varsity sports teams at Ashland District School in the past year has been a bit of a struggle.

With half of the team’s roster consisting of freshmen, Fort Fairfield coach John Ala realizes it will be an interesting transition season for his Tiger boys varsity soccer team.

Three years ago, the Central Aroostook Panthers won the school’s first state championship in soccer. The following season in 2020 was affected by the pandemic and there was no MPA tournament, while last year the CA squad struggled to a 4-9-1 regular season mark and was ousted by Van Buren in the preliminary round of the playoffs.

Mark Shea brings plenty of prior coaching experience to his new role in leading the Washburn boys varsity soccer team, and his main priority is sharpening a defense that allowed an average of 6.5 goals per game a season ago.

For the second consecutive year, the Easton Bears’ soccer roster includes only one senior.

Development of team chemistry will be a key factor in turning things around after last year’s 4-9-1 season, according to Molly Kingsbury, who takes over as coach of the Central Aroostook Panthers.