PCHS boys, GSA girls eager for chances to change history

Rex Webb has turned his practices the week before the Class C boys soccer state final into a sort of history lesson.

As in, he’d rather not have history repeat itself when the Piscataquis of Guilford boys take on Traip of Kittery in today’s 1 p.m. matchup at Morse High’s McMann Field in Bath.

“Since 1974 there’s only been two Eastern Maine champions win the state championship in Class C boys soccer,” Webb said. “Everything else has been Western Maine. The mentality we have is that, we’re not going down there to lose. We’re going down there to win, and we’re expecting to, even though a lot of other people might not be.”

The boys game follows a 10 a.m. girls matchup between George Stevens of Blue Hill and North Yarmouth Academy.

Webb also knows one piece of Eastern Maine’s Class C history that is worthy of repetition – the Pirates are one of those two EM teams to have won Class C state titles.

Piscataquis beat Richmond 3-1 in 1985, and Webb said some of those former Pirate players could be on hand today.

Penobscot Valley of Howland won states the following year, earning a 3-2 victory over North Yarmouth Academy, the same team Traip beat 1-0 on penalty kicks in this year’s Western Maine title game.

Traip, which is coached by Fort Kent native Paul Marquis, ran through the playoffs despite holding the No. 8 seed. The 12-5 Rangers beat Livermore Falls 5-0 in a prelim, knocked off No. 1 Telstar of Bethel 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and tipped St. Dominic of Lewiston 3-2 in the semis before the NYA game.

“A lot of the indications out there is that they’re not a true eight seed,” Webb said. “That said, we can’t go out there with the mentality that we’re sunk before we start.”

Webb met with his players in a PCHS classroom earlier this week and gave them a handout of things he had researched about Traip – including the fact that the Rangers have never been in contention for a state soccer championship.

Piscataquis (12-4-1) has appeared in five previous Class C state games, most recently in 2000 and 2001.

Webb also found that Traip has scored 56 goals and given up 20 and has recorded nine shutouts, six of which came in their first seven games. Webb hasn’t calculated those numbers for his team yet.

Like Traip, the Pirates may be peaking at the right time, including a 4-3 win over rival Dexter in the EM final.

“I feel, and I think the boys feel, that we’re playing our best soccer right now and we’ve picked our best time to do it,” Webb said. “It’s like a switch has gone on with our boys.”

Another GSA-NYA matchup

While Piscataquis is playing a new opponent in the boys Class C state game, the girls game is a familiar matchup as George Stevens (12-3-2) takes on NYA (16-1) for the third time since 2000.

One of the strongest soccer programs in the state, the Panthers are seeking their fourth straight state crown and sixth since 1999.

NYA beat GSA 2-1 in 2000 and blew out the Eagles 5-0 in 2004.

The current George Stevens juniors were freshmen that year, but coach Steve Bemiss said the girls know they’re a different team now. Some of them got together earlier this week and watched the video of the 2004 game.

NYA is a lot different, too, Bemiss added.

“Those [GSA] girls are a lot older and quite a bit better,” he said. “They see a lot of flaws in that team that played for us. They understand that [NYA] had five girls that went on and played Division I. … I don’t think you’ll ever see a team that had the talent that that [NYA] team had. They were exceptionally talented.”

Emily Peake leads the Eagles with 12 goals followed by Winslow Brokaw with 10. But as Bemiss pointed out, the winning goals in GSA’s playoff games have come from players who hadn’t scored all year.

George Stevens scrimmaged Eastern Maine Class D champion Lee on Tuesday, but other than that game, it’s been a relatively easy week for the Eagles. They played three games in five days last week en route to a 1-0 win over Washington Academy of East Machias in the regional final.

Now GSA just has to get over the mental barrier of playing North Yarmouth.

“We’re rested, which is kind of a switch,” Bemiss said. “I think we’ll have some fan support. We just have to go out and play.”