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HOULTON – In an attempt to boost the offense, the Fort Kent girls soccer team debuted a new field alignment for its Eastern Maine Class C matchup against Houlton on Thursday evening.
The alignment change, which involved strengthening the midfield, was a clear success.
Forward Nicole Chasse booted in two goals and the Warriors dominated play despite playing against the wind in the first half as Fort Kent shut down Houlton 4-0 at the high school field.
The adjustments Fort Kent coach Kevin St. Jarre made also helped the Warriors boosted their record to 2-3.
“We were having trouble getting balls out of the midfield served forward to the striker earlier this season so we pulled back a forward to the midfield,” he said. “That added some strength. The girls did well with it.”
Although Chasse’s first goal started in the midfield, she created both goals on her own.
The Warriors and the Shires played even early in the game until the 5-foot Chasse picked her way through the Houlton defense, at one point getting knocked over and popping back up again, to slam in a shot from about 20 yards out with 28 minutes, 39 seconds left in the first half.
“I just had to read where the ball was going,” Chasse said of facing the wind. “I knew that it would go further than it usually would.”
Her second goal, which she scored in the second half, came on a hard-hit direct kick – Chasse had been fouled by a Houlton player to earn the kick – about 30 yards left of the goal. The shot gave the Warriors a 3-0 lead.
“She’s a big piece of why we win,” St. Jarre said. “Nicole’s probably our best finisher and she’s very intense.”
Fort Kent’s team speed was too much for 1-3-1 Houlton, which had a wind advantage in the first half but couldn’t capitalize.
“We tried to [use the wind] but today we had a hard time getting things going,” Houlton first-year head coach Tim Tweedie said. “Fort Kent just seemed to be beating us to all the balls, getting in front of us to all the balls in the first half.”
Brittany Theriault scored Fort Kent’s second goal less than 15 minutes before halftime when she kicked in a rebound of an initial shot that hit the crossbar. Allie Madore rounded out the scoring when she hit another rebound in the second half.
Fort Kent fullbacks Justine Cyr and Sarah Bouchard kept Houlton’s wing players from getting up the sides, while sweeper Shannon Martin helped hold the Shiretowners to just one shot on goal in the second half.
“We have a fast defense, faster than a lot of other teams,” said Cyr, who moved from stopper to outside fullback in the alignment change.
St. Jarre was relieved to have a halftime lead despite playing against the wind. His captains won the coin toss and chose to save the wind advantage for the second half.
“I was a little nervous about that,” he said with a laugh. “Then [the captains] felt like geniuses when we went up 2-0.”
Fort Kent’s Elizabeth Morneault, a freshman who made her first start in goal due to an injury to starter Kelsie Bouchard, stopped three of five shots.
Houlton goalies Bethany Targonski and Justine Anderson combined for 11 saves on 22 shots. Targonski, who wasn’t feeling well at the start of the game, is one of several Shiretowners who are either sick or injured.
“We are dealing with a ton of injuries,” Tweedie said. “If we can just get healthy … I really don’t care for the harvest break, but we’ll take it this year if we get time to heal.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY KEVIN BENNETT
Houlton’s Keegan Hovey (left) and Fort Kent’s Melissa Albert converge on the ball during the first half of Thursday’s game at Houlton.
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