ELLSWORTH – The Ellsworth girls soccer team has been shoring up its defense all season, trying to get things ready for the rigors of the Class B playoffs.

So far, so good.

The Eagles’ back line frustrated Caribou’s attackers, allowing only four shots at goal, while Maggie Harding and Ashley Smith took care of the offense Wednesday as fourth-seeded Ellsworth earned a 3-0 quarterfinal victory over the No. 5 Vikings at Del Luce Stadium.

Ellsworth improves to 12-2-2 and earns a date with top-seeded Presque Isle in a Saturday semifinal while Caribou wraps up its season at 12-4.

The Vikings’ chances were extremely limited, as the Eagles’ backs did a sound job of one-touching the ball out of the defensive third and generating plenty of scoring chances themselves.

“That’s something we’ve been working on all season. We used to just dribble around and wait and now we just kick it out,” said senior midfielder Lauren Peer.

Ellsworth’s front line put pressure on Caribou’s defenders early and often. Smith scored 11:30 into the match, lofting a high, arching shot from the left corner out of the reach of Vikings goalkeeper Brittany Doak.

“I think whoever was going to score first today was going to pick up the momentum and fortunately it was us,” Ellsworth coach Jen Myers said.

Harding gave the Eagles some insurance with 13:37 remaining in the second half. Her shot mirrored that of Smith’s, except she used her left foot.

Being left-footed certainly worked to the advantage of the senior forward.

“[The defense] never knows what side to guard, so it’s easier,” said Harding.

Harding capped the scoring on an unassisted tally with 3:15 remaining, this time using her right foot after Doak gave her Caribou teammates a heads-up after Harding’s first goal.

“When I shot it and scored [the first goal] their goalie was like, ‘guys, she’s left-footed,’ then I went down next time and scored with my right foot,” Harding said.

Even though Caribou pushed up its back line quite a bit early in the second half to try and generate some offense, Ellsworth’s backs were simply too tough.

“I’m very proud of my defense today, they really held up,” Myers said.

“Our defense, they’re solid, I couldn’t ask for more. They were awesome today,” added Harding.

Doak played a solid game in goal, coming up with eight saves on 15 shots, thwarting several Eagle attacks and keeping the Vikings within striking distance in the second half.

Eagles goalie Angie Tucker had to make just one save on four shots.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

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