Sports Reporter
WINSLOW – An early goal, followed by some spectacular saves by their senior goalie, had the Caribou Vikings thinking that their unexpected run through the playoffs was going to continue against Winslow in last Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class B championship match.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
Brittany Doak of the Caribou Vikings makes one of her 12 saves against Winslow in last Wednesday’s Eastern Maine championship soccer game. Winslow came out on top, 6-1.
However, the host Black Raiders had other ideas.
Winslow, which actually dominated play throughout, trailed for the first 36 minutes of play before finally solving Vikings’ keeper Brittany Doak and scoring the equalizer. After intermission, the home team poured it on with five unanswered goals en route to a 6-1 victory.
Caribou, the division’s No. 5 seed which used road victories over Gardiner in the quarterfinals and Presque Isle in the semifinals to fuel its march to the championship game, ended up with an 11-5-1 final record.
Winslow kept their unbeaten record intact with the win over the Vikes, but went on to lose in the state title game Saturday.
Caribou did make the game interesting for a half. On their first and only good scoring opportunity of the opening half, the Vikings took advantage. Paige Small, a sophomore, lined a kick from the right side into the penalty area. The shot skimmed off a Winslow defender, allowing senior Abby Small to pounce on the ball before Black Raider goalie Jessica Gordon could grab it. Abby Small converted on her shot to give her team a 1-0 advantage.
“In our first two playoff games, we had to play catch-up, so it was exciting getting the early lead,” Abby Small said.
Winslow began to carry play and made several strong offensive thrusts against the Caribou defense, but Doak was on top of her game and thwarted some Grade A chances by the Black Raiders. Freshman Alliyah Veilleux got loose for a number of shots beginning at the 20-minute mark of the half, beginning with a shot from 20 yards out that Doak leaped to tip in the air and eventually grab. Three minutes later, Veilleux nailed a shot from the right side that skimmed the cross bar, and then, with 15:41 left in the half, she broke away and had a 1-on-1 down the right side, which Doak snuffed out with a diving save.
“We don’t want to have to rely on her, but she is a great goalie,” Small said. “I’m so proud of her when she makes the great saves and gets recognized for it.”
The pressure continued, and with exactly four minutes left before intermission, Winslow broke through. Kaylee Constable converted a cross by Veilleux to make it 1-1.
The Black Raiders kept finding seams in the Caribou defense throughout the second half, and the result was a scoring rampage. Veilleux tucked a shot from the right side, 10 yards out, to the far post 6:37 in to give Winslow the lead. Three more goals followed, coming approximately every five minutes, before freshman Myranda Dodge put the finishing touches on the victory with 33 ticks left on the clock.
“They won a lot of 50-50 balls and loose balls and made us pay for it,” Albert said. “We’ve got to do a better job of maintaining possession.
“They had a lot of quickness and were tough to defend,” Albert said.
Small said her four-year career has been marked by constant improvement, and despite the loss to Winslow, it has been a memorable run.
“As a freshman, our team won just two games, so since then it’s been a matter of building and building,” Small said. “This season was exactly the same way.
“People have stepped up, we’ve really come together and there is good chemistry on the field,” added the captain, “and that wasn’t there in the beginning of the year. I hope they can continue to build on that next year.”
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
Olivia Sleeper of the Caribou Vikings, left, tries to beat a Winslow defeader to the ball during last Wednesday’s EM Class B championship match. The Black Raiders won the contest, 6-1.
