Playoff soccer picture coming into focus

6 years ago

With only a few more weeks to go in the boys and girls soccer seasons, the playoff picture is becoming clearer. The regular season comes to an end Tuesday, Oct. 16, with preliminary playoffs starting on Friday, Oct. 19.

In boys Class B North, Caribou (6-1-1) is in first place as of Monday morning, while Presque Isle (6-0-2) is fifth. Only the two top seeds receive a first-round bye, so the Wildcats are likely facing a preliminary playoff.

For boys Class C North, Houlton (6-1-1) is ranked third and should be looking at a first-round bye as the top six squads go directly to the quarterfinal round.

Central Aroostook (11-0) is the top-ranked squad in boys Class D North, while Easton (7-4) is sixth; Fort Fairfield (5-7) is ninth; Hodgdon (7-2) is 11th; Southern Aroostook (3-6) is 13th; Ashland (2-9) is 15th; Washburn (1-10) is 17th; Katahdin (1-8) is 18th; and MSSM (0-4) is 20th. The top 14 teams make the playoffs, but only the first and second seeds earn a bye in this division.

For the girls, Presque Isle (6-1-1) is ranked fourth in Class B North, while Caribou (3-3-2) is eighth. Only the top two teams receive a bye in this division, so both the Wildcats and Vikings are likely facing a preliminary playoff.

Houlton (7-0-1) is ranked second in Class C North. The Shires are looking at a bye directly to the quarterfinals as the top six teams earn a bye in this region.

In Class D North, Central Aroostook (11-0) is the top ranked team, followed by Ashland (9-2) in second; Southern Aroostook (6-3) in third; Fort Fairfield (6-5-1) in seventh; Katahdin (5-4) is 10th; Easton (1-9-1) is 13th; Washburn (3-8) is 14th; Hodgdon (2-6-1) is 15th; and MSSM (0-3-1) is 16th. The top 12 teams make the playoffs with the top four teams receive a first-round bye.

Girls soccer

Fort Fairfield 0, Fort Kent 0 — The teams battled to a scoreless tie Sept. 25 at Fort Fairfield. Caijsa Benson of the Tigers had 18 saves and Lyndsay Ouellette made two for the Warriors.

Hermon 3, Caribou 1 — On Sept. 25 in Hermon, Edie Shea scored the Vikes’ only goal in the loss to the undefeated Hawks.

Goalkeeper Sage Dubay saved six of nine shots for Caribou.

Sidney Gallop scored two of Hermon’s goals and teammate Megan Chamberlain made seven saves on nine shots.

Ashland 5, Southern Aroostook 1 — Freshman Gabby Ayotte erupted for four goals and junior Shelby Stolze had the other as the Hornets picked up another huge win by topping Southern Aroostook in Ashland Sept. 25.

The result was a turnaround from the Sept. 5 meeting in Dyer Brook — a 2-1 victory for the Warriors.

Willow Hall and Kayla MacLean dished out assists for Ashland, which outshot SA by a 35-11 margin. Reagan Libby made six saves for the Hornets and Sydney Brewer 16 for the Warriors. Kassidy Mathers scored SA’s only goal.

Presque Isle 8, MDI 1 — Madison Michaud scored four times to increase her season total to 22 and career total to 108, helping the Wildcats to the blowout victory in Bar Harbor Sept. 25. Paige McHatten scored twice and Lydia Miller and Eleanor St. Peter each tallied a goal for PI, which improved to 6-1-1 and next plays at home against Old Town Thursday. Lelia Weir scored the lone MDI goal. Rebecca Rider was the winning goalkeeper.

Katahdin 4, Hodgdon 1 — At Stacyville Thursday, all four Cougar goals were scored by freshmen as Makyla Hartsgrove had two and Emily Beyer and Nikita Keim each had one. For Hodgdon, Sabra Scott scored the lone goal.

Eighth-grader Autumn McGraw had eight saves on nine shots for Katahdin. Autumn Ganzel had 17 saves on 21 shots for the Hawks.

Central Aroostook 4, Southern Aroostook 3 — The Panthers ran their season-long winning streak to 11 Friday at home, but it wasn’t easy.

The Panthers’ Kayla Martin scored on a rebound of a shot by Kate Levesque with just four seconds left in regulation to break a 3-3 deadlock. CA held a 3-1 lead on two goals by Levesque and another by Brea Bradbury, but SA knotted with goals by Paige Vose and Kassidy Mathers. Kylie Vining had tallied a first-half goal for SA and had two assists.

Levesque had both assists for the Panthers. Olivia Blackstone made three saves on nine shots for CA and Sydney Brewer turned aside eight of 22 for the Warriors.

Ashland 2, Fort Kent 1 — The Hornets defeated the Warriors Friday for the second time in a six-day span, this time winning at home on the strength of a pair of first-half goals from junior Shelby Stolze. She scored off assists by Gabby Ayotte and Kassandra Nelson. Gabby Martin registered a goal in the second half for Fort Kent.

Reagan Libby collected four saves on 18 shots in Friday’s match. Lyndsay Ouellette of the Warriors had six saves on 14 shots.

Kate Levesque of Central Aroostook, left, and Kacy Daggett of Southern Aroostook get tangled up during Friday’s match in Mars Hill. (Kevin Sjoberg)

Caribou 4, Foxcroft Academy 1 — Alexis Rodriguez scored twice and Willow Whitten and Edie Shea added one goal each as the Vikings topped the Ponies at Caribou High School Saturday.

Houlton 2, Orono 2 — At Orono Friday, the Shires battled Orono to a 2-2 stalemate for their first tie of the season. Sam Johnson and Sierra Hoops scored goals for the Shires, while Maggie Coutts and Izzy Baker had goals for Orono.

Shire Tessa Solomon had seven saves on 14 shots, while Orono’s Anna Drinkert had eight saves on 15 shots.

Hodgdon 2, MSSM 2 — At Limestone Saturday, the Hawks and Penguins battled to a 2-2 stalemate. Individual results were not reported.

Katahdin 5, Woodland 0 — At Stacyville Saturday, freshman Emily Beyer tallied three goals, while senior Erin Lake tallied her first goal of the season and also had two assists as the Cougars rolled to the shutout. Sophomore Emma McNally also had a goal and an assist, while eighth-grader Cassidy Rosolio had an assist.

Boys soccer

Fort Kent 7, Fort Fairfield 0  — Austin Delisle, Kayden Nadeau and Alex Sutherland all scored twice as the Warriors blanked the Tigers Sept. 25 in Fort Fairfield.

FF goalkeeper Kobe West saved six of 25 shots, while Reece Pelletier made three saves on four shots for Fort Kent.

Southern Aroostook 1, Ashland 0 — Buddy Porter’s goal with two minutes to play broke a scoreless deadlock and gave the Warriors the win over the Hornets Sept. 25 in Ashland.

Hodgdon 4, Katahdin 2 — In a physical game played Thursday in Stacyville, Hodgdon’s Josh McGillicuddy, Aaron Brooker and Dylan Jurson each scored the first high school goals of their careers. Josh Palmer also had a goal for the Hawks.

Bradley Hotham and Evan Tapley each scored goals for Katahdin.

“We were short-handed to start the game with missing a key senior player (Tyler Cox), our junior captain (Josh Foster) for the first half, and were also without a starting fullback (Lucas Ramsey),” Hodgdon coach Jason Little said. “For the team to pull together and other players to step up in their absence was a big step for this team.  I felt that the players kept their heads in the game and did not worry about other distractions.”

Freshman TJ Fitzpatrick was pressed into duty for the Hawks when starting goalkeeper Michael Sanders was injured. Sanders was able to return later in the game.

Orono 3, Houlton 1 — At Orono Thursday, the Shires lost for the first time on the season. Keegan Gentle had the lone goal for Houlton. Lucas Souza-Cunha, Zach Needham and Trent Lick each had goals for Orono.

Drew Foley made 16 saves on 19 shots for the Shires, while Javier Alicea-Santiago had 14 saves on 16 shots for Orono.

Central Aroostook 9, Southern Aroostook 0 — Hunter Wardell and Bryan Anthony each netted hat tricks and combined for three assists as the Panthers moved to 11-0 after Friday’s win in Mars Hill.

Hayden Kingsbury added a goal and three assists. Sam Brewer and Lucas Haines also scored for CA and Ethan Pryor and Jacob Carvell both notched assists. Brayden Bradbury picked up his ninth shutout by making three saves on five shots.

Jacob Brooks of the Warriors made 13 of 25 shots. SA’s three-game winning streak came to an end with the loss.

Fort Kent 6, Ashland 1 — Kayden Nadeau and Camden Jandreau scored twice in the Warriors win on the Hornets’ home field Friday. Josh Celestre scored for Ashland. It was only the third goal allowed all season by Fort Kent.

Caribou 4, Foxcroft Academy 0 — Cullin Caverhill scored off an Alex Ezzy assist with inside a minute left in the first half and the Vikings tacked on three goals after intermission in Saturday’s shutout win at home over Foxcroft.

Ezzy scored two of the second-half goals and Ethan Holdsworth had the other. Caverhill had two assists. Noah Hixon saved four of five shots for the Vikings and Lucas Ames of the Ponies collected 14 saves on 23 shots.

Hodgdon 4, MSSM 1 — The Hawks kept the Penguins without a win Saturday as Josh McGillicuddy scored twice and Josh Palmer and Kyle Carver pitched in with two goals each. Carver had an assist and Michael Sanders stopped seven of eight shots for the Hawks, with Josh Foster making a save late in the game.

Dohoon Bae netted a first-half goal for MSSM. Harrison Walters assisted on the play. Ryan Fitzmaurice had nine saves while facing 13 shots for the Penguins.

Woodland 5, Katahdin 2 — At Stacyville Saturday, the Cougars fell to visiting Woodland of Baileyville. Individual results were not reported.