Lewiston uses speed to beat HA Broncos

HAMPDEN – The Lewiston High girls soccer team arrived here Wednesday afternoon somewhat concerned about playing on artificial surface.

But once the Blue Devils got accustomed to the foreign surface, they played their way into foreign territory – their first-ever Eastern Maine Class A championship game.

Lewiston earned that berth in impressive fashion, as Laura Martel had a goal and an assist to lead the No. 3 Blue Devils past No. 2 Hampden Academy

3-0 in their regional semifinal.

Lewiston (13-3) plays at top-ranked Brunswick in Saturday’s Eastern A final. Brunswick (15-0-1) defeated Messalonskee of Oakland 1-0 Wednesday, and already owns two wins over the Blue Devils this year, once during the regular season and again in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship game.

Hampden, which played nearly the entire season without All-Maine standout Kim Stephenson and was without two other original starters Wednesday, finishes its season with an 11-4-1 record.

“[Lewiston’s] speed up front was the difference,” said Broncos coach Dewey Martin. “We haven’t played a team that good all year, or even close to as good as they are all year. They showed us what we need to do. We learned some things today.”

That speed was epitomized by Martel, an All-Maine junior striker who was a threat to score virtually every time she got the ball. She scored only once, off a Kelsey Varney feed with 13:58 left in the first half to give Lewiston a 1-0 lead, but might have scored two or three more times but for some big saves by Hampden goalie Rebecca Workman.

“We were worried about this turf because we weren’t used to playing on it,” said Lewiston coach Rick Meyers. “We knew that it would play true and there would be no bad bounces, which helps us with Martel and a couple of others who are really good at settling the ball.

“But Martel’s our goal scorer, and once the girls overcame their fear of this field and knew they could settle the ball and play it, we were able to play better and get one by their keeper.”

Martel was shadowed by Hampden standout Jenna Shue for much of the match, and actually scored her goal on a play in which Shue had been upended. Varney grounded a perfect lead pass from midfield to Martel ahead of the pack, and she showed herself to be the consummate finisher in scoring her 26th goal of the season

“They were playing good defense and Kelsey Varney put it through to me,” said Martel. “The goalie came out and had a great angle, and I just had to pick a corner and put it in.”

Sophomore Kelsey Rodrigue scored five minutes later to give Lewiston a 2-0 halftime lead. Kaitlynn Pike capped off the scoring by tipping in a Martel crossing pass with 26:13 left in the match.

“We just stepped it up and played our game,” said Martel, who now has a school-record 58 career goals.

Lewiston finished with a 20-7 shots advantage, with Lewiston senior Alison Coleman setting a school record with her 10th shutout of the season. Workman made 12 saves for Hampden, which also got stellar play from junior midfielder Annaliese Lafayette before she left the game with 15 minutes left due to injury.

“We possessed the ball very well,” Martin said. “We want to play a possession game and we did. We made a lot of very nice controlled runs. They didn’t result in many shots, we didn’t get enough shots on goal, but the kids played very well and with a lot of heart.”