CARIBOU – A three-goal disadvantage meant nothing to the Fort Kent boys soccer team in its matchup against Caribou Wednesday night.
The Warriors rallied from a big deficit in the first half, capped by J.J. Pinette’s header with less than 21 minutes left in regulation, to earn a 3-3 double-overtime tie at the high school field.
“We told ourselves, we’re not going to give up,” Pinette said. “We’re going to play a full game. Last weekend we played against Old Town and kind of let off after we played a good 20 minutes, and we told ourselves today we weren’t going to give up.”
Both teams are now 5-3-3.
Fort Kent scored two goals in the final 13 minutes and 30 seconds of the first half to make it 3-2 at halftime.
Ethan Raymond drilled a penalty kick after a push was called against Caribou in the penalty area. About nine minutes later, the Warriors were awarded an indirect kick because of a dangerous play. Pinette tapped the ball back to Raymond, who was waiting a few yards back, and Raymond blasted it in.
The Vikings had the three-goal lead, but halftime probably couldn’t have come fast enough after the two fouls that led to goals, and a yellow card against Caribou.
“We wanted to calm down, get back a goal, not keep our heads down,” said Caribou’s Josh Akerson, who had two goals. “I don’t know what our problem was, but overall we played hard. Everybody gave it their all, I thought.”
Pinette knows he is Fort Kent’s go-to guy on headers, so he got himself into position after a direct kick.
“I just made a run so the defense couldn’t track me, and I directed it to the corner post,” Pinette said. “I saw the goalie was playing off his line a bit so I put it right to the post.”
The Warriors crowded around him after the score, and coach David Minzy pumped his fist on the sideline.
Both teams had plenty of chances in regulation and overtime. The Vikings hit the crossbar at least three times in the game, and they got a ball past Fort Kent goalie Derick Plourde, with 10:30 left in regulation, but a Caribou player was called offsides, nullifying the score.
“It’s all emotion,” Pinette said. “You see a chance to finish it and you get the jitters. It’s a lot to take in, a lot of pressure.”
Akerson scored six minutes into the game, and Ben Wakana made it 2-0 when he slammed a pass from David Levasseur. Akerson put in his second goal when he tapped in a ball 17 minutes before halftime.
Plourde made six saves on 18 shots, and Caribou goalie Brad Ala stopped seven of 17 shots.
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