Return of Roberts, Smith bolster Bangor High girls soccer

The two newest faces to the Bangor High girls soccer team aren’t exactly new.

Larry Smith, in his first season as a varsity head coach, served as a volunteer assistant with the team a few years ago. Jessie Roberts, who played with the Rams her freshman and sophomore years before leaving Bangor for her junior year, has returned to the team.

They’ve both had an impact on the field and off this season for the 2-1 Rams.

Roberts spent the 2004-05 school year at Kents Hill, a boarding school northwest of Augusta. She decided to switch schools so she could play ice hockey on an all-girls team instead of playing with boys as she had done in the Bangor area.

Although Roberts had a good junior year – Kents Hill reached the finals of the New England Prep School Girls Ice Hockey Association’s Division II playoffs – she said her parents wanted her closer to home for her senior year, especially with younger sister Rachel Roberts also playing on the Bangor soccer team.

Jessie Roberts was happy to return to her old friends on the team, and she’s even serving as one of five senior captains. More than that, she provides a big boost for the Rams in the midfield as both a scorer and a creator.

Roberts was a Maine Soccer Coaches Association all-star midfielder in her sophomore year and a Penobscot Valley Conference second-team all-star as a freshman.

“Jessie knows what to do when she has the ball,” said Hannah Bennett, a fellow senior captain and midfielder. “She has a good sense of the game itself. [The forwards] know she can get them the ball and we can create scoring opportunities easily.”

Roberts, who scored Bangor’s only goal in the Rams’ season-opening 1-0 win over Lawrence of Fairfield, also provides even more depth to a team that already has one of the biggest benches in Eastern Maine. There are 63 girls in the Bangor High program, including at least 10 on the varsity bench.

“Even if we had our whole second string in, they’d provide a really good showing,” said Roberts, who wants to play soccer in college.

Roberts and the rest of the senior class were freshmen when Smith was a volunteer assistant to Jeff Ingalls. Despite the emotional appeals made to the Bangor School Department by student-athletes and their parents, Ingalls was not rehired after 12 seasons.

Smith applied for the job after it was advertised and was hired April 25.

Neither Bennett nor Roberts said they were approached by teammates with concerns about the coaching transition, although some of the younger players told the captains they weren’t sure what to expect from Smith.

But Smith said he feels it’s been a relatively smooth transition between coaches.

“I’ve been a soccer person for a long time and I’ve been around a lot of teams,” said the former Ohio State player who has coached a variety of age group teams in the Bangor Soccer Club. “There aren’t too many things I haven’t seen at least a little bit of.”

He credits his captains, a group that also includes goalie Ilyse Angst, forward Serena Dubois and sweeper Kelly White, for the helping the team come together after the coaching change.

“Having that kind of leadership to carry this team has been fantastic,” said Smith, a Bangor-area doctor. “They’ve done a nice job with the younger girls.”

With the high talent level and deep bench, Smith said the Rams will focus on gaining possession and shooting as much as they can.

That strategy will be key as Bangor and the rest of the PVC meshes into the traditionally strong Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. KVAC teams have won the last 16 Eastern Maine Class A girls soccer titles.

“Playing in the KVAC should strengthen our schedule and help prepare us for playoffs,” said Smith, whose daughter Justine Smith, a 2004 Bangor High graduate, played soccer and ran cross country and track for the Rams.

Orono Boosters raising funds

There’s pink to show support for breast cancer research, yellow for Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG movement, and now maroon and white as Orono High School is getting in on the rubber bracelet trend.

The Orono Boosters Club will be selling rubber bracelets that are embossed with “Red Riot Pride” for $2 at the boosters’ concession stand set up during sports events.

The boosters are also selling calendars that include all extra-curricular activities at Asa Adams Elementary School, Orono Middle School and Orono High School so parents can plan around all school events. The calendars are $12 and weren’t funded with corporate sponsorship.

The proceeds of bracelet and calendar sales will go to the boosters, who use the money to pay for both athletic and non-athletic expenses, said boosters club president Teddi-Jann Covell.

Bracelets and calendars will also be available at all three schools as well The Store-Ampersand in Orono.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.