Vikes rout Warriors; Ala notches shutout

CARIBOU – Despite a big lead and an even bigger advantage in shots, the Caribou boys soccer team knew better than to sit back and relax in the first half of Thursday night’s Eastern Maine Class B matchup against Fort Kent.

That’s because last year at home, the Vikings jumped out to a three-goal lead only to watch the Warriors rally, sending the game to double overtime and ending in a tie.

So it wasn’t until Ben Wakana’s goal with 12:45 left that the Vikes could let out a sigh of relief. One more goal, and Caribou went on to a 5-0 victory at the high school field here. The win boosted Caribou to 6-2, while Fort Kent fell to 4-3-1.

“We knew this would be a little bit of a test,” Wakana said. “You think about what happened in the past, then we got up 3-0 early again and that figures into your mind. But the fourth goal went in and that was a big boost. And our defense played well and we have a good ‘keeper.”

The Warriors did a good job of slowing Eamonn Harrigan and Wakana, who have been the top two goal scorers for a Caribou team that had racked up 29 goals in seven games before adding five more Thursday.

Harrigan and Wakana were shut down for the most part against the Warriors – Harrigan didn’t figure into the scoring and Wakana had one goal – which meant the rest of the Viking team needed to take over the offense. The Caribou bench did just that, scoring four of the five goals.

The Vikings took an early lead as substitutes Kyle Damboise and Jonathan Philip, a Danish exchange student who had never played competitive soccer until this fall, gave Caribou a 3-0 advantage. Philip scored the second goal and was credited with the third, which actually went in off a Fort Kent defender (he happened to be the closest Caribou player to the ball at the time) with 18:38 left.

“It’s important that we get points from our bench and they’re skilled enough that they can score,” Wakana said. “We rely on them a lot and that helps.”

The fourth goal was big for the Vikes, helping to erase the memory of last year’s meltdown. Damboise started the play when he kicked a shot that hit the post. Wakana was in good position to head in the rebound to the right of Fort Kent goalie Derick Plourde.

Jarryd Rossignol scored the final Caribou goal off a pass from Brad Campbell.

The Warriors had trouble working the ball down the field – the Vikings seemed to get a head or body on most loose balls – and were unable to mount many serious offensive threats, content to shoot the ball from beyond the 18-yard line.

“I think we focused more on defense in the second half,” fullback Jon Bell said. “We wanted that big 5-0 on the scoreboard. Let them take the [long shots] I guess. We weren’t going to let them inside the 18.”

Plourde made eight saves on 16 shots. Caribou starter Brad Ala made four saves on 12 shots.