ASHLAND, Maine — Following an 11-day layoff between games, the defending Class D North regional champion Ashland girls’ soccer team would have been excused for showing a little rust during their quarterfinal match against Fort Fairfield on Friday.
Unfortunately for the upset-minded Tigers, that never happened.
Ashland scored four times in a 17:12 span in the first half to forge to a big lead at intermission, and then tacked on three more goals in the second half in a convincing 7-1 victory over Fort Fairfield.
“Ashland is an athletic team with an experienced offensive group,” Tiger coach John Ala said. “They do a great job creating scoring opportunities through crosses and making runs out of the back.”
The Hornets, which had beaten the Tigers twice during the season by scores of 8-2 and 5-1, improved their record to 12-2-1. They are now 9-0-1 over their last 10 matches.
The game was supposed to be played two days earlier, but Wednesday’s snowfall led to unplayable conditions that day and the following afternoon as well.
Now the second-ranked Hornets face a quick turnaround as they will host Madawaska, the No. 6 seed, at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Owls had upset No. 3 Penobscot Valley Thursday in their semifinal, 1-0. Ashland and Madawaska had several common opponents, but did not square off during the regular season.
Willow Hall opened the scoring for Ashland by heading in a Gabby Ayotte cross with 28:31 to play in the first half. Kassandra Nelson drilled in a shot from 20 yards out at the 21:11 mark to make it 2-0 before Hall scored off a rebound with 15:35 left and Ayotte netted a shot off a Hall assist with 11:19 remaining before halftime.
Shelby Stolze then converted her 25th and 26th goals of the season early in the second half before Mia Carney capped the scoring.
Fort Fairfield, ranked 10th in the division, put in a late goal which was credited to freshman standout Camryn Ala and came unassisted. The Tigers, who had upset No. 7 Shead in the prelim round Oct. 19, finished at 8-7-1.
Reagan Libby handled the goalkeeping chores for Ashland, while Caijsa Benson was in net for the Tigers.
