Howlers knock off Knights Rackley leads team into semifinals

HARRINGTON – Clouds built ominously overhead and rumors of approaching rain circulated, but the wet weather held off for quite a while during Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal girls soccer game.

The rain came eventually, but not before a blustery, biting wind made a difference in the matchup between No. 4 Narraguagus and No. 5 Penobscot Valley.

The Howlers of Howland won the pregame coin toss and senior Toni Babineau chose to go with the wind for the first half. The gusts helped Penobscot Valley maintain possession and score two goals in the half en route to a 4-0 upset of the Knights at Carlton Willey Field.

The Howlers, now 5-7-3, will play on Wednesday against the winner of No. 6 Hodgdon at No. 3 Dexter.

Narraguagus finished 11-3.

The Knights had a lot of trouble clearing the ball in that first half because the goal kicks, throw-ins, and free kicks that should have helped them get the ball out of their defensive half and set up the offense looked like they were hitting invisible walls.

That was the wind’s doing. But for Penobscot Valley, it was all about making the most of opportunities.

“We always want to score first because when we’re behind, we don’t always play to our potential,” said forward Randy Rackley, who scored twice to lead the Howlers. “We really wanted to go into the second half with at least two goals.”

Rackley scored one goal in each half. She put in a penalty kick, which was called after a Narraguagus handball in the penalty area, with 11:41 left in the first period to make it 2-0.

Ashlee Dawson and Tiffany Brown also recorded goals for Penobscot Valley.

The Howler defense also won a lot of 50-50 balls, which allowed them to hold possession.

“That’s where we’ve been having some problems, winning goal kicks,” Babineau said.

The Knights had the wind in the second half, but about five minutes into the period it started to drizzle, which made for slippery footing. They did outshoot the Howlers 6-3 in the second half and had several good opportunities, but often sent shots over or wide of the net, or didn’t have players in position for crosses.

“We can get [the ball] down there, it’s just finishing that we have a problem with,” Narraguagus fullback Leann Skeate said. “We work on it and work on it in practice, and it’s one of those things that’s gonna click [eventually].”

Penobscot Valley freshman goalie Jen Plourde came up with some huge saves, particularly on hard shots by Narraguagus forwards Jen Strout and Missy Barbee. She finished with seven saves on eight shots.

Alicia Tenney stopped six of 11 shots for the Knights.