Houlton High School
Coach Tim Tweedie
Girls Soccer
2017 State Champions, 17-1 record
“We graduated nine seniors, seven of which were starters, so we will have a lot of turnover. 40% of this year’s roster will be made up of freshmen,”Coach Tweedie said. “We’ve had a good summer and we return some solid players, so we hope to once again be in the playoff mix.”
Many new players will fill Tweedie’s roster. The players that do return will have to take more of a leadership role with the graduation of Kolleen Bouchard. The Shires won the 2017 class C state title game 1-0 over Madison behind a Bouchard goal. It was the first Houlton girls soccer title in 30 years.
Tweedie said, “Because we’re so young and due to the fact that so many players are in the process of expanding their roles from last year, it’s really tough to list my expectations. What I do know is that this group is smart and hardworking, so we’ll see how far that gets us.”
The four returning starters are:
Tessa Solomon (Goalkeeper) who had 12 shutouts in 18 games last fall. She’s going to have to play a big role in developing a brand new back line as we lost all four starting defenders from last year’s team. She is a senior.
Jamie Brown (Midfield), is the only other senior on the roster. She will be a four year starter and does a lot of the unheralded work for our team. She’s a strong leader. She reminds me of the Celtics’ Marcus Smart. The things they do for the team don’t always show up in the box score, but their contributions are evident to all who watch them play.
Sierra Hoops (Forward/Midfield) is our most versatile player and top returning scorer from last year. She finished with 12 goals and 11 assists last season.
Amelia Ivey is the fourth returning starter. She too will play some midfield and is a two year starter.
“But there are a lot of other players on the team who have a chance to either really step up or to play big roles as freshmen,”Tweedie said. “It’s too early to say what to expect, but they have the right attitudes to develop into solid soccer players.”
Houlton defeated Dexter in the regional final last season. The Tigers have a solid core returning. Penquis will return two of the top goal scorers in the league and will contend in class C North.
Tweedie said, “In our conference, we expect for Dexter, Penquis, Orono, Fort Kent, Central, GSA, and Bucksport should all be very good again this year, and there may be others that are not on our schedules.”
