Winslow girls, Ellsworth boys win ‘B’ titles Strong 2nd half sparks Raiders

BANGOR – Winslow went into Monday’s Eastern Maine Class B girls soccer championship game with a huge advantage in big-game experience.

Despite having won three straight regional titles and boasting 12 seniors, the No. 4 Black Raiders were a tentative during the first half of their game against No. 3 John Bapst.

Winslow finally re-established its confidence and attacking mentality while scoring three goals during a dominating second-half performance en route to a 4-1 victory over the Crusaders at the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center field.

“We know that we have to work hard, but we’ve never seen this team before, so I think we were a little timid at the beginning,” said Winslow senior halfback Vicki Nadeau, who assisted on two goals. “But we’re a second-half team and we pushed through and we finished and that’s what we needed to do,” she added.

Coach Scott Wood’s Black Raiders (17-1) play the winner of Tuesday’s Western Maine title game between No. 2 Yarmouth (12-3-1) and No. 4 York (10-4-2) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. state championship game at Lewiston High School.

With the game tied 1-1 at halftime and John Bapst dictating play, Winslow had to regroup.

“We talked a lot about playing nervous and how we weren’t playing aggressive,” Wood said. “The adjustment I guess was just to come out and be more aggressive and try to win the game rather than not to lose it.”

Winslow began its surge almost 10 minutes into the second half. Nadeau’s well-placed corner kick from the left side bounced to the far post, where an unmarked Liz Cheesman chested it into the goal to make it 2-1 with 30:09 left.

“We were playing pretty cautious in the first half and then in the second half we realized that if we wanted to win this we were going to have to play harder,” Cheesman said. “We picked it up in the second half and worked great together”

The Black Raiders built on the momentum. Only 1:33 later, Jordyn Mallett found herself in space in the middle of the field. She hammered a high, 30-yard shot over John Bapst goalkeeper Sam Maquillian.

Crusaders coach Gary Sinclair said Winslow played like a team that knew how to win.

“I think their experience of being here three years before [was key],” he said. “I think that showed a lot in the second half.”

Winslow controlled the play from that point on with tenacity and hustle. Nadeau, Mallett, Cheesman and Katie Caron were among the catalysts.

Caron made it 4-1 with 12:12 left, scoring with a low shot after a determined run through the middle of the penalty area.

The Black Raiders fired 14 of their 19 shots in the second half and got 10 of those on goal. Maquillian, who was battling a fierce, low sun, made eight saves, seven after intermission.

“Sammy hadn’t faced that all season long, the fire that she faced today,” Sinclair said.

John Bapst was the aggressor in the first half, outshooting Winslow 11-5. Whitney Sinclair, Catherine Lammert, Ashley Gale and Morgan Chasse helped the hosts dictate the pace.

Winslow got on the board 91/2 minutes into the contest. Nadeau made a long cross from the right flank to Cheesman in the left side of the penalty area. She knocked the ball down with her body and scored with a shot off Maquillian’s hands and inside the far post.

Bapst equalized at 18:40 when Sinclair seized the ball amidst a scramble in front and punched a shot past Fisher.

The Crusaders had nearly scored 30 seconds earlier, but Fisher made a superb leaping tip-away of Abby Perkins’ 25-yard shot that was headed under the crossbar.

“They gave me everything they had all season long,” coach Sinclair said of his team, which was paced by six seniors who helped Bapst rebound after failing to make the playoffs in 2006. “They’re a great group of kids and they showed it today.”