Defending D North champion Penobscot Valley ladies soccer advances to regional ultimate
BANGOR, Maine – Penobscot Valley Excessive College ladies soccer coach Jeremy Durost stated his workforce’s defensive play has been underrated this season because of the truth his Howland-based Howlers had scored 95 objectives in 15 video games getting into Thursday morning’s Class D North semifinal towards Central Aroostook of Mars Hill.
It will not be underrated any extra.
Penobscot Valley posted its eighth consecutive shutout and sophomore midfielder Lila Cummings scored each objectives because the Howlers topped the Panthers 2-0 at Husson College’s Boucher Subject in Bangor.
Second seed and defending regional champ PVHS, now 16-0, will face prime seed Knowledge of St. Agatha, 15-1, in Tuesday’s 4 p.m. D North championship sport at Pottle Subject in Hermon.
Third seed Central Aroostook, taking part in with out 4 gamers who had been on a college journey together with two starters, concluded an 11-4-1 marketing campaign.
PVHS nipped Central Aroostook 2-1 within the semifinals final season.
Freshman goalkeeper Brooklynn Raymond made 5 saves, all within the first half, to earn the shutout. A lot of the pictures had been from distance because the Howlers swarmed the ball and didn’t permit the Panthers to generate any nice probabilities.
CA had 13 shot makes an attempt however simply three within the second half.
Junior middle again Allie LeBlanc and left again Emma Potter, a senior, had been stable as was the appropriate again combo of sophomores Eve McNally and Lauren Veino.
Veino moved again from the midfield to exchange McNally when she was injured 15:18 into the sport following a collision within the midfield.
Holding senior midfielder Mia Neal was additionally a key defensive contributor and Cummings and the opposite midfielders backtracked to restrict Central Aroostook’s time within the attacking third.
“We dropped again very properly,” stated Cummings. “We made positive we had folks again there and that no one was left open.”
“Our protection is top-notch,” stated Durost.
The Howlers paid shut consideration to dynamic and tireless Central Aroostook senior striker and main scorer Abby Haines, who was a relentless menace along with her pace and ability.
She had 4 of the 5 pictures that required saves.
The omnipresent Cummings opened the scoring with 23:41 left within the first half.
She had the ball alongside the left wing and tried to ship a cross into the penalty space.
Her cross glanced off a Central Aroostook participant’s head and floated over the pinnacle of helpless goalkeeper Charlie Pierce and into the online.
Haines almost tied it early within the second half however her shot from the highest of the world rolled simply extensive of the far put up.
Simply moments later, Cummings expanded the lead off an Elllie Austin move.
Austin saved possession of the ball in site visitors alongside the appropriate aspect and slid a brief move to the open Cummings on the prime of the field.
“Ellie made a fantastic move. She labored laborious to get that ball. Everybody was pushed down with our striker and with a few of our outsides (so I used to be open). I simply tried to place it at the back of the online,” stated Cummings, who hit a robust rising shot that cleanly beat Pierce.
Cummings stated the workforce performed “very properly.
“We performed bodily, we handed, we saved the ball,” stated Cummings.
Freshman Pierce wound up with six saves on 16 Howler pictures together with a few gems within the second half to maintain her workforce inside hanging distance.
Her protection additionally cleared a ball off the objective line on a followup try.
“It was a tricky loss,” stated CA coach Molly Kingsbury. “We knew what we had been stepping into. They’ve dimension on us and perhaps have a pair extra scorers than we do.
“I believed we got here well-prepared. It’s laborious once you haven’t performed a soccer sport for nearly two weeks after which to come back out right here. It was a tricky battle, for positive,” Kingsbury added. “We had been down just a few gamers at this time however no excuses.”
Durost stated Central Aroostook is a “superb workforce.
“They’ve a number of expertise. We had a dogfight with them final 12 months so we knew it was going to be a battle once more,” Durost stated.
Along with Haines, Izabel Pryor and Allisa Burtt had been among the many different Panthers who performed properly together with Harleigh Allen. Burtt left the sport injured with 9:10 remaining after a battle for the ball.
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