GSA overcomes weather, Orono> Eagles earn matchup with Ellsworth

ORONO – After the George Stevens Academy boys soccer team’s 4-2 victory over Orono in the preliminary round of Class B playoffs on Tuesday afternoon, the Eagles now know what they have in common with the U.S. Postal Service.

They both deliver in any kind of weather.

Both teams battled through clouds, rain, a brief period of hail and blinding sunlight at Orono High School.

“Actually, I didn’t think the weather was that bad for this time of the year,” GSA coach Dan Kane said. “But hey, this is Maine.”

The Eagles of Blue Hill, which came in as the ninth seed in Eastern Maine Class B, scored their first goal just 12 seconds into the game when halfback David Loomis curved a corner kick toward Orono goalie Gary Muehuren. Dan Read headed the ball in for the score.

After that goal, both the sky and the Riots clouded up. GSA used a series of headers and fancy but accurate passes to tally 15 shots on goal in the first half and scored again on a header with 7:23 left in the period. Andrew O’Neil got a head on Chad Mattson’s throw-in for the 2-0 edge at the half.

“We had a lot of confidence going into this game and it showed in the first half,” GSA defender Chris Baldwin said.

After two minutes of hail and a halftime drizzle, Orono picked up its intensity in the second period – a change which Orono coach Scott Warman attributed to moving Muehuren to striker and inserting Justin Wright into the goalkeeper position, and adding more offense in the form of four halfbacks instead of his usual two or three.

“Gary is a good striker, but he hasn’t played there all season,” Warman said.

Wright and Muehuren combined for 13 saves on 23 GSA shots.

The Riots did get two goals in the half, but not before GSA made the score 3-0 on the strength of an unassisted shot by Loomis at 33:23, who drilled the ball past Wright. The keeper lost the shot in the direct sunlight.

With the Eagles up by three goals, the game got rough on both sides of the field. GSA halfbacks Mac Jackson and Josh Hatch both left the field with yellow cards and the Eagles racked up 18 fouls on the afternoon. Orono totalled nine fouls, with seven calls in the last 20 minutes.

With 15:26 left in the game, Orono’s David Cote took a corner kick and Loomis fielded the ball and kicked it past GSA goalie Owen Newkirk, who saved three of the Riots’ six shots on goal.

Orono’s Darrell Watson scored off a direct kick from Tom Hite with 1:05 left in the game, but not before Zach Davies could add an insurance goal for GSA with 8:10 left.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Warman said of the 7-6-2 Riots. “They fought up until the last minute.”

GSA, now 9-5-1, may find a fight when they play undefeated Ellsworth on Saturday at Del Luce Stadium. The Eagles dropped two games to the Darby Higgins-led top seed in Class B.

“[Saturday’s game] is our big chance,” Read said. “If we stick to our game plan they way we did today, we should give them a good fight.”