Belfast claims crown Lions’ Anderson makes key saves

PORTLAND – Lizzy Anderson may only be a sophomore, but she played like a seasoned veteran Saturday afternoon.

The Belfast High School goalie made three superb saves among her four, including one with only five seconds remaining, to backstop the Lions to their first state Class B championship since 1989 by virtue of a thrilling 2-1 win over York at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Anderson helped provide coach Allen Holmes with his second undefeated season in his 32 years.

“She had an awesome game. She made some great saves,” said York senior goalie Chelsea DeFeo, who also played well and finished with five saves on 11 shots.

“She’s an amazing goalie,” said York junior midfielder Carrie Rovnak, whose goal with 2:08 remaining caused some anxious moments on the Belfast sideline as the desperate Wildcats stormed the net looking for the equalizer.

Rovnak, who wound up scoring six of York’s seven playoff goals, said Anderson was the “best goalie we’ve seen.”

Brittni Reed’s first-half goal gave Belfast a lead it would never relinquish before Jillian Ross scored what proved to be the game-winner with 19:30 remaining in regulation.

In between, Anderson made two gems near the end of the first half that preserved the lead and the momentum.

Michaela Franey shanked a shot in the circle that created a situation where Anderson had to change directions to get to it.

“She drove it into the ground and it kind of popped up. I just got my stick on it at the last second,” said Anderson, who, moments later, flashed out her left leg in the nick of time to kick out a perfectly placed Rovnak drive labeled for the far corner.

“I was overplaying it a little bit [to the near post], but then she hit it to my left and it hit the inside of my leg,” said Anderson.

Reed’s goal with 17:30 left in the first half was set up by a Brittney Cummings pass across the circle.

“A lot of my goals have been set up this way this season. We hit it to the right and cross it to the left,” explained Reed. “Brittney gave me a nice pass right in front, and I deflected it into the opposite corner to the goalie’s right.”

Kallie Aldus set up Ross’ game-winner with a pass into the middle of the circle.

“I was right on the stroke [spot], Kallie gave me a nice pass in, and I hit it to the goalie’s left,” said Ross.

“It was a real strong shot and there were people in front, so I didn’t see much of it,” said DeFeo.

With the game winding down, Rovnak finally put one behind Anderson just moments after her shot through a goalmouth scramble rolled inches wide of the far post.

Rovnak was rewarded for her relentless pressure when Franey pushed the ball ahead to her and she swept it between Anderson’s pads.

The desperate Wildcats earned a penalty corner with 10 seconds left and the ball wound up on Franey’s stick. Franey drilled a hard shot, but Anderson closed her pads and smothered the shot labeled for the short side.

“She’s [Franey] a good player. I saw her at the top of the circle and her shot was right at me. After it hit me, I didn’t know where it went. It was such a hard drive, I didn’t get a chance to direct it [out of danger],” said Anderson.

“Liz was awesome. It was definitely her day, her game,” said Belfast junior Kelsey Jackson.

York outshot Belfast 15-11.