Broncos refuse to panic, rally past Wildcats 3-2

HAMPDEN – Norwegian exchange student Nasse Wangen provided the spark; Todd Atkins supplied the game-saving defensive play; Mike Roberts was the catalyst down the stretch and Aaron Peppard, given a second chance to be a hero, came through.

Hampden Academy’s defending Eastern Maine Class A soccer champs had their backs to the wall facing a 2-0 deficit with 33:25 left in their EM semifinal against visiting Presque Isle on Wednesday.

But the senior-laden and second-seeded Broncos, swarmed the Wildcats and rallied dramatically for a 3-2 win on Peppard’s goal with 1:05 remaining.

Hampden, now 15-1, will travel to take on 16-0 Brunswick in Saturday’s EM title game.

Kasey Keenan’s first-half goal, coming when HA goalie Dan Martin fumbled Jeremy Brooks’ low cross; and a terrific 20-yard half-volley over Martin’s head by Jason Turner in the second half staked PI to a 2-0 lead.

But senior midfielder Wangen jump-started the comeback with a left-footed rocket 3:15 later; senior sweeper-marking back Atkins cleared a ball off the Bronco goal line 31 seconds after that; senior left wing Roberts equalized with 13:14 left and then made the cross resulting in senior striker Peppard’s game-winner.

“Their second goal hit us pretty hard but Nasse’s goal brought us back up,” said Peppard.

“We’ve got 14 seniors. When it got down to crunch time, we knew we had to turn it up a notch. There was no way we were going to let it end here with a team this good,” said Roberts.

Wangen scored off a loose ball just inside the area to the left of PI goalie Gene Cronin.

“It was at the right angle to the left corner so I just had to put a foot on it and place it in the corner,” said Wangen. “I was so glad. We needed that goal. After that, I knew we were going to win.”

Atkins then cleared Brooks’ header before it crossed the goal line.

“It was going to go in but I only had to jog to catch up to it,” said Atkins.

“Todd has been really reliable all year,” said Roberts.

The Broncos continued applying pressure and Roberts tied it from the top corner of the penalty area to Cronin’s right.

“The ball came rolling over and I saw the goalie kind of playing near post a little bit so I tried to put it to the upper 90 and that’s where it went,” said Roberts.

With overtime looming, Meinhart’s textbook pass to Roberts down the left flank set the stage for Peppard’s game-winner.

“It was beautiful,” said Roberts. “He [Meinhart] had the whole defense shifting over with his pass and that left a huge lane down the middle. I just passed it through to Peppard and he pounded it [in].”

“I was indecisive,” said Cronin. “I wanted to go for the ball but then I stopped. I got my left hand on the cross.”

Peppard, who had missed a breakaway wide right with 10 minutes left, said “They didn’t mark me the whole game. I just kicked it in.”

HA, which had much more depth, outshot PI 33-12. Martin made four stops and Cronin had eight for the 7-7-2 Wildcats.