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The Van Buren Crusaders and the George Stevens Academy Eagles of Blue Hill secured berths in Eastern Maine schoolboy soccer finals with semifinal victories Friday.
The second-seeded Crusaders edged the No. 3 Machias Bulldogs 1-0 on penalty kicks in Class D action in Van Buren while No. 5 GSA beat No. 1 Orono 2-0 in Class C play in Hampden.
The Crusaders will play the top-seeded Bangor Christian Patriots at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hampden Academy field, which is behind the Weatherbee School on the Main Road.
GSA will travel to Dexter for a 1 p.m. Saturday final against the second-seeded Tigers.
In Van Buren, after two overtimes still didn’t produce a winner, the game was decided when the Crusaders outscored the Bulldogs 4-2 in penalty kicks.
Trevor Hews, Tony Vaillancourt, Jake Doucette and Alex Martin each converted a penalty kick for the Crusaders. Goalie Andrew Taylor came up with two key saves to stop the Bulldogs after Chase Ross and Zac McNally had scored for Machias.
Van Buren coach Steve LaPierre said he didn’t tell his players who would be taking the kicks until the extra session began.
“We waited until then and based it on how people had played that day,” LaPierre said.
He then had some simple advice for his players.
“Shoot hard and low and make sure your plant foot is solid,” he said.
“They were all good shots,” LaPierre added.
Van Buren outshot Machias in the game 15-7. Despite the field being covered with snow Wednesday, it was in pretty good shape, LaPierre said.
“It was a little sloppy at the 18s [yard lines] on both ends, but nothing happened that cost the game for anyone,” he said. “It was hard to get your footing to shoot, but it was hard for both teams.”
Taylor made five saves for 14-0-2 Van Buren and Garrett Getchell made nine saves for 13-2-2 Machias.
Saturday’s regional final will be a rematch of the 2004 EM title game, won by Van Buren 2-1 en route to winning the Class D state championship.
Van Buren will be seeking its seventh Eastern Maine title overall, and its fourth in the last five years.
Bangor Christian, which recently completed the first undefeated regular season in school history, is in search of its first regional championship.
In Class C, George Stevens scored a pair of goals early in the match and then relied on a stellar defense to shut out Orono in a game played on the artificial surface at Hampden’s Weatherbee School complex.
This marked the third time the teams met this season, with Orono earning a win and a tie in their previous meetings en route to earning the No. 1 seed in the division.
Ryan Kurtz scored five minutes into the match on an assist from Phineas Peake, then assisted Austin Dobson later in the half to give the Eagles a two-goal lead.
“They penetrated between the defenders and used their speed to get to the ball first,” said Orono coach Larry Berthiaume of the goal-scoring moves by Kurtz and Dobson.
From there the Eagles assumed a defensive posture, denying Orono solid scoring opportunities against senior goalie Collin Henry.
Orono outshot GSA 10-4, but Henry made 10 saves to earn the shutout while Mat Lint made two stops for Orono.
“They had a pretty good game plan,” said Berthiaume of GSA. “We outshot them, but they stuffed up the middle of the field against us. Their four defenders ganged up in the center of the area, and left us with the corners.”
George Stevens (10-3-3) will face Dexter in search of its second Eastern C crown in the last four years, having last won the title in 2002.
Dexter last won the regional championship in 2003, and reached the Eastern Maine final a year ago before losing to Madawaska.
Orono finishes its season with a 12-2-2 record.
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