Cougar ranks thin, but girls enjoying season

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At the end of the 2001 soccer season, K.C. Duffy-Stanley and the Katahdin High girls team took stock of who would be back for the following year.

With at least six soccer players graduating from the Class D school in Sherman Station, the numbers were discouraging. The initial thought was to cancel the girls program, and that had Duffy-Stanley thinking about transferring to Schenck High in East Millinocket, one of the Cougars’ rivals, or even going out for the Katahdin boys team.

But she stayed put. The soccer team stayed intact. And even though Katahdin has only 11 players on the roster and regularly plays with nine or 10 on the field, the Cougars are enjoying their season. They’re even in the midst of a win streak.

“I’m glad that we kept it going,” said Duffy-Stanley, a junior captain.

Katahdin picked up its first two wins of the season last week, beating Ashland 1-0 and Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook 3-2. The team earned a 3-0 win Monday against Fort Fairfield.

The Cougars had just nine players for the game against Ashland and 10 against SAHS and Fort Fairfield. Even with 11 players available, the team often plays with 10 if someone needs a break.

“I don’t know what it was,” Duffy-Stanley said Monday afternoon. “We were all hyped up before the Ashland game. We decided to play hard and just have fun.”

It’s no surprise that Katahdin’s biggest challenge has been stamina. In their first game of the season, the Cougars were tied with Hodgdon at halftime, but the Hawks scored three goals in the second half.

To that end, Duffy-Stanley and fellow captains Krystal McMoarn and Brandi Violette have decided to include a 3-mile run into each day’s practice schedule.

“We were all just so beat by the end of the [Hodgdon] game,” said Duffy-Stanley, who scored the game-winner against Southern Aroostook. “We decided to do something to get our fitness level up.”

Duffy-Stanley said the school should be able to field a softball team in the spring but might not have a junior varsity basketball squad this winter.

Sumner girls soccer on hold

Although the Katahdin girls have kept up their team despite low numbers, the Sumner of East Sullivan girls have decided to stop for the season.

Coach Debbie Osgood said she had 14 players at one point, but the number went down to 10. Two players were injured during a game against Searsport last week, leaving just eight on the field. It turned out to be Sumner’s final game.

“It was a team decision,” Osgood said. “The girls weren’t having fun and they were getting frustrated.”

Osgood, who also coaches softball at the school, ran a summer soccer program but at one point had only five girls.

Osgood thinks the lack of participation stems from a problem many coaches see – kids would rather get after-school jobs.

“In our area the kids have to work,” she said. “They want their own stuff and they have to help out.”

Harris takes to Brewer

Katie Harris, a three-sport standout at Lee Academy last year, is enjoying the bigger environment and variety of choices at Brewer High after moving to Brewer with her mother this summer.

The transition has been all the better as the junior stepped in to be the starting goalie for the Brewer soccer team.

Harris has noticed some big differences coming from Class D Lee and moving to Class A Brewer, including stronger opposing offenses.

“I haven’t been on the ground this much before,” she said after a recent game. “I started my sophomore year at Lee and I got on the ground every five games and I had a couple of [saves] each game. These games I [face] 20 shots a game, at least.”

Lee Academy had a stellar year for girls sports in 2001-02. Harris played on three teams (soccer, basketball, and softball) that played in Eastern Maine Class D championship games, and state title games in soccer and softball.

She was named an all-Eastern Maine Class D goalie and a Penobscot Valley Conference Class D first-teamer.

Last winter Harris, who is known for her 3-point shooting skills, helped the Lee basketball team to a 19-3 record. She played a few games with Brewer’s varsity team in a local summer basketball league.

Although the Pandas were regional softball champs and had a 15-5 record with Harris as the pitcher, she probably won’t play that position at Brewer this year. Harris was pitching underhanded, while Class A pitchers tend to use the windmill technique.

“I’m not worried about pitching,” she said. “I can play a different spot. I just did it last year since nobody else wanted to.”

Weeks’ big day

Bangor-Brewer soccer games are always intense, and with both boys teams playing well, today’s 4 p.m. game at Brewer’s Doyle Field has the potential to be a close one.

Bangor senior fullback Nat Weeks has a special reason to play hard this year.

“I can’t wait. It’s my birthday, too, so I’m going to have tons of fun,” said the speedy Weeks, who turns 17 today. “I’m all set.”

The always-tough Rams are 4-1 and the Witches are 3-1-1, their best start in several years.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.