Bronco girls, boys sweep Presque Isle

HAMPDEN – The Hampden girls soccer team shows up at all the right times.

It happened again Saturday as the Broncos earned a 3-2 victory over Presque Isle, the second time this year Hampden has knocked off an undefeated team.

The Hampden boys also picked up a big win, rolling to a 3-1 victory over the Wildcats in the first game of a doubleheader at the Weatherbee Complex field.

Back on Sept 30 the Hampden girls faced an undefeated Bangor team and stopped the Rams 1-0. The Wildcats were 10-0-1 before facing the Broncos Saturday, who go to 11-2 and have won nine in a row.

“I think we definitely pick up our intensity,” midfielder Annaliese Lafayette said. “Everybody on the team does. Even before games, everybody’s a lot more into the game and a lot more focused. When we play teams like Presque Isle and Bangor, that makes it even more important.”

Alyssa Forest had the winning goal for Hampden, which broke a 2-2 tie with 19:31 left.

Johanna Ghiringehlli was credited with the assist. Ghiringehlli, an exchange student from Paraguay, took a shot at the far post, and Forest ran on the ball and kicked it in.

“She either crossed it or shot it, and it deflected off a [Presque Isle player],” Forest said. “It was just being in the right spot at the right time.”

Hampden’s Amy Dumont made it 2-1 when she scored 32 seconds into the second half.

The Wildcats never led in the game, but twice came back to tie it up.

Katie Delong tied the game at 1-1 with 6:24 left in the first half, and Hilary Harvey made it 2-2 about six minutes into the second half.

Presque Isle coach Ralph Michaud was pleased the job his team did on Hampden standout Kim Stephenson. The center midfielder had a near-perfect pass in the first half to set up Jessie Aylward for Hampden’s first goal, but she wasn’t involved in the scoring after that.

Presque Isle’s Natasha Deschene marked Stephenson.

“That’s two games in a row we’ve held her scoreless, but the goals we gave up were mistakes,” Michaud said. “It’s tough to come back and then give up a goal. It really takes the wind out of your sails.”

Deschene nearly scored when she had a header hit the post with 26 minutes left.

In the boys’ game, the Broncos put the win on their defense for bottling up Wildcat standouts like Trevor Graves.

Hampden, now 9-4, didn’t have one fullback on the senior forward, but used several different players, including Luke Anderson and Chris Standley.

“It was a group effort to shut them down,” Hampden senior Alex Wiken said. “The defense really worked hard today.”

All three Hampden goals came from bench players. Sophomore Andre Cushing scored twice and senior Jay Kaufman’s goal about 51/2 minutes into the second half proved to be the game-winner.

Kaufman settled a pass from junior Peter Alexander, who also didn’t start, and shot the ball to the left of PI goalie Brad Baker.

“We’re really deep,” Cushing said. “Our coach always tells us that our second 11 can compete with anyone in the state.”

That score came 56 seconds after Wildcat center midfielder Benji Lynch tied the game when he chipped the ball over the head of Hampden goalkeeper Kenny Mayo.

“I thought we were going to come back, but they scored right after that and we lost our momentum,” Lynch said.

Cushing’s second-half goal came when he kneed in the ball after an Eric Kelmenson corner kick and a nick off the post, giving the Broncos some insurance with 23:31 remaining.

Baker finished with six saves on 13 shots for the 8-2-2 Wildcats, while Mayo had four stops on nine shots.

“[Hampden] showed up and we didn’t,” PI coach Scott Young said. “They really won a lot of balls and they were a step or two ahead of us.”