The first player Caitlin Anderson ran into during Sunday’s Maine Soccer Coaches Senior Bowl was taken a bit off-guard.

“I think he was a little surprised,” Anderson said. “They usually don’t expect me to run right into them. So that was cool.”

It might have been “cool” in the moment, but it was nothing new for Anderson to mix it up with the boys.

Anderson, who plays fullback on the co-ed varsity Islesboro Central School team, was the first girl to be named to the boys all-star team and first to play in the Senior Bowl in its 12 years.

There are only 13 high school girls at Islesboro this year, Anderson said. The school’s enrollment usually hovers around 30. There are four other girls on the soccer team, so the Eagles have a combined team that plays other boys teams around the state.

Anderson, a fullback, was a member of the Western Maine Class D all-stars. She played with the West boys in their 7-5 loss to the East Sunday in Hampden.

Anderson had a choice of playing in the girls game, which was held Sunday before the boys game, but Anderson told Maine Soccer Coaches president Mike Jeffrey she’d rather play with the boys as she’s done for four high school seasons.

Still, Anderson was a little apprehensive about Sunday’s game and how her Western Maine teammates would react.

“I was really scared they wouldn’t talk to me,” she said. “But it was cool. They were like, there’s a girl out there, let’s make her one of our own.”

That wasn’t always the case. Occasionally, Anderson played against boys teams who didn’t exactly appreciate her presence. One Western Maine opponent, she recalled, got especially physical with her earlier this year.

“I took it right to them anyway,” she said.

Anderson held up well Sunday. She entered the game in the second wave of West players, helping hold the East scoreless for a 15-minute segment after they scored twice in the first 15.

Anderson had an inkling she could be an all-star last year when former Islesboro coach Fred Porter told her there was a chance she’d be nominated.

She didn’t believe him, thinking she’d have to be voted on to a girls team in order to be an all-star. And there was no way that would happen, Anderson worried at the time, because none of the Western Maine Class D girls coaches saw her play in the boys games.

Anderson was shocked to have made the team.

“I was like, who voted for me?” she said. “I really want to thank whoever did it, but I don’t know who they are.”

Breton gets chance to shine

Hannah Breton was on a mission, sort of.

The Greenville High senior wanted to put forth her best effort in Sunday’s Senior Bowl, one of the biggest stages on which she’s had a chance to compete during her stellar four-year career.

Breton, who scored 110 goals in her career, knows she doesn’t get a lot of attention competing in Western Maine Class D and living in a small town.

“It was like, here’s my chance to play with some of the best soccer players in the state,” Breton said after scoring two goals in the West’s 5-1 win over the East. “I really wanted to use that, go out there and have fun because I love soccer, but at the same time try and have one of the best games of my career.”

Breton is considered by other coaches and even a referee or two to be one of the fastest and strongest players in the state. She was also 24th in the Class C state cross country championships and third in the Eastern Maine race this fall.

She’s also an outdoor track and field standout and plays basketball for the Lakers.

Breton’s career numbers are impressive, although they don’t touch the state scoring record of 177 goals held by former Lee player Shelby Pickering.

Other top Maine scorers include former Waterville standout Deb Cormier who scored 126 goals from 1980 to 1983. Another former Lee player, Deidra Ham, scored 119 from 1998-2001.

Breton is hoping a little attention will pay off with a chance to play soccer at the next level, with or without a scholarship. She wants to go into civil engineering and has narrowed her choices to the University of Maine, Colby in Waterville, Vermont, or Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

She’s put in some extra work to make a case for herself.

“I’ve made the point of sending the coaches letters, I’m Hannah Breton, I play Class D soccer so you probably haven’t heard of me,” she said. “I’ve asked to sit down with them and talk about opportunities, regardless of whether I get a scholarship or not. I don’t care. I just want to play.”

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