Hampden’s girls down Vikings 2-0

HAMPDEN – After the Caribou girls won the coin toss and elected to play the first half with a strong wind blowing at their backs, Hampden Coach Al Barton was hoping his girls could keep the game close and maybe score a lucky goal before the half ended here Saturday in an Eastern Maine Class A girls soccer quarterfinal game.

The No. 4 Hampden girls not only kept the game close; they kept No. 5 Caribou from scoring, and scored two goals of their own in the half before going on to post a 2-0 victory over the visiting Vikings.

The Hampden Broncos will advance to play top-seeded Mount Ararat of Topsham, a 6-1 winner Saturday over Brunswick, at Topsham in a semifinal matchup on Tuesday.

Barton credited a strong defense, as well as an aggressive offense for keying the victory.

“The key to today’s game was definitely our defense,” Barton said. “Our game objective was to come out and be physically aggressive with our offense and it paid off.”

Barton also said he was surprised that the only goals were scored against the wind.

Hampden’s first goal came at 16:39 of the first half as a result of a pushing penalty in the neutral zone against Caribou.

Freshman fullback Amy Dwyer sized up the penalty kick and caught Caribou goalie Tina Guillemette diving left before blasting the ball into the right corner.

“I didn’t really have any strategy, I just lined up and took the shot,” said Dwyer.

Tri-captain forward Melissa Roberts scored the Broncos’ second goal on a breakaway from midfield with 44 seconds left in the half.

Roberts outraced a pack of Caribou defenders, sped down the right side of the field – beating Guillemette coming out from the net – and angled a quick shot into the far left corner of the goal to give the Broncos some breathing room.

“Offensively, when Melissa Roberts has the ball, she’s just pure excitement,” said Barton. “And Amy Dwyer putting that penalty kick in for the first score just showed a lot of composure for a freshman.”

Roberts was crucial to Caribou’s game strategy, according to Caribou Coach Dan Cyr.

“We had to deny Roberts the ball, but we allowed her to turn with the ball and gave her a little space; and that’s all she needed,” said Cyr.

Hampden was also paced by a shining effort from sophomore goalie Becky Huson, who notched her eighth shutout of the season with 12 saves on 22 shots.

Caribou’s Tina Guillemette also had a good game. The senior goalie saved 18 of 30 Hampden shots and thwarted three exellent scoring chances by the Broncos in the second half.

The contest served as the rubber match for the season series between these two teams as Caribou won the first game 4-1 and Hampden defeated the Vikings 3-0 in the rematch.

Hampden upped its record to 12-1-2 while Caribou finished the season at 11-3-1.