Lions’ ‘D’ preserves 1-0 victory Maycock goal enough to hold Trojans at bay

BELFAST – If the bad field conditions weren’t frustrating enough, the No. 2 Belfast girls soccer team’s troubles putting the ball in the net should have driven them crazy.

It was a good thing for the Lions that they had already scored, because with all those misses in the second half, they also had to contend with a Mount Desert Island squad that tried hard to rally.

Abi Maycock’s goal late in the first half held up, and the Belfast defense held off the No. 10 Trojans for a 1-0 victory.

The Lions, now 14-1, move to the semifinal round in which they will face the winner of Friday’s quarterfinal between No. 11 Hermon and No. 3 Winslow.

Belfast will host that game, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

The muddy spots on the field and sidelines – recent bad weather combined with heavy usage from other teams – were just about the downside to an otherwise well-played, exciting game.

It got even more so in the second half as the Trojans (5-8-3) tried to rally and the Lions had some of their best chances.

Striker Lindsay Bryant, who has 17 goals so far this year, had several good tries on fast breaks and crosses.

She missed a chance on a breakaway early in the second half when her shot went wide. MDI goalie Jessica Norwood punched out a Bryant shot with about 15 minutes left. Bryant and Katie Nickerson missed back-to-back chances on the same play with 10 minutes left.

The Lions were visibly frustrated.

“It felt like we had so many chances,” Maycock said. “We should have had five goals. We had lots of really good chances and we didn’t put them in, and that was frustrating because we usually capitalize on those.”

Norwood was stellar in goal and finished with 11 on 19 shots.

But with Belfast controlling the ball in the midfield, the Lions would need to score only one goal.

Maycock did that for Belfast with 2:55 left in the first half. She chipped in a Nickerson corner kick off the inside of her foot.

“I didn’t know if I was going to head it or not,” she said. “Usually I would try to head it in far post. But it was just instinct, I guess.”

MDI tried to generate more offensive pressure with a halftime switch. Bekka Paine, who started in the backfield to take advantage of her speed against the Lion forwards, moved up front.

“When they weren’t pressuring us too badly, I decided we needed her up there,” MDI coach Emily Ellis said. “I think having her up there gave us an offensive boost and that helped us turned things around.”

MDI took four shots overall, but three of those came in the second half. The Trojans had one of their best scoring chances with 16:30 left when Brenna Crothers crossed the ball inside to Lily Algood, who tapped it just wide of the goal.

The second half was much more evenly played than the first, when Belfast controlled play and barely let the Trojans slip into the MDI offensive half.

“We learned from our last two games that we need to contain in the midfield, so that was one of our focuses coming into the game,” defender Kait Murphy said.

Belfast’s Bryna Harrington had two saves on four shots.