MILO— The third time was a charm for the Penquis high school girls soccer team. After a tie and a loss against the Piscataquis Community High School (PCHS) Pirates during the regular season, the Patriots turned the tables in a 3-1 victory over PCHS in a Maine Principals’ Association class C quarterfinal game on Wednesday afternoon.
Penquis outshot PCHS 26-4, including 15-2 in the first half. The focus for coach Dawn McLaughlin and her Patriots was to slow down the Pirates explosive junior Erin Speed. That plan didn’t start off well. Speed took a pass from Sara Almirante and got free and gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead just 6:07 into the contest. That was all of the scoring for the Pirates.
“During the season, we lost sight of Erin Speed, who is an amazing and fast player.,”McLaughlin said. “We worked really hard all week on making sure we knew where she was at all times.”
Penquis was able to even things up when freshman Rachel McManus was at the right spot on a beautiful pass from Cymeria Robshaw. McManus took the pass in front of the goal and drilled the ball into the back of the net.
Robshaw said, “she (McManus) was working hard for it, she got there in time.”
Robshaw gave the Patriots a 2-1 lead with 2:20 remaining in the first half. Penquis scored their final goal on a Camryn Rolfe penalty kick after a Pirates hand ball with 28:42 remaining in the second half.
“Going up 2-1 was big. After halftime we were concentrating on making sure they didn’t score a quick one to make it 2-2,”McLaughlin said, “That hand ball was a big turning point for us, it kind of took the wind out of their sails. They (PCHS) did a great job marking up our kids, they had two kids on Cymeria (Robshaw) and Camryn (Rolfe) all the time.”
Penquis (10-4-1) will travel to Houlton for a semifinal game this weekend. The young Patriots team set a goal to at least make it to the semifinals after losing to George Stevens in the quarterfinals last season. Houlton defeated Fort Kent 3-1 in their quarterfinal game on Wednesday.
“We set goals to get to a semifinal game. Houlton is a really good team,”McLaughlin said. “We have a day to prepare, so we will watch some film and see what we can do.”
Pirates goalie Alivia Hunt did a great job keeping the game close. Hunt finished with 19 saves on 26 shots. PCHS finishes the season with a 7-7-1 record. Jordan Durant recorded three saves on four shots in goal for the Patriots.
