In Howland, history was made at Dave Lovett Memorial Field Tuesday evening, as the defending Class C Northern Maine Champion Penobscot Valley girls soccer team hosted its first ever night game under their newly installed lights and finished with a win over Bangor Christian 7-1.
Sophomore Lila Cummings got the home team on the board first about nine minutes into the game, when she secured the ball near the sideline at midfield and dribbled it toward the 18-yard line. A step inside the box, she fired a line drive into the right side of the net.
The game remained 1-0 until a seemingly harmless play resulted in the equalizer for Bangor Christian. Brinn George’s throw-in by the Howler bench found Senior Grace Lewis, who immediately turned and rocketed a kick from about 30 yards. Freshman goalie Brooklynn Raymond came out on it, only to see it skip over her head off the fast and slick surface knotting up the game 1-1.
The next 15 minutes would belong to the Lady Howlers, as they scored three times to give themselves some breathing room. The first goal started with junior Ellie Austin sending a straight line pass to sophomore Rylee Moulton inside the penalty area, and Moulton found the lower left-hand corner of the goal. Less than two minutes later, center-back Allie LeBlanc sent a long chip forward that got beyond the Lady Patriot defense, leading to another Moulton goal as she went one on one with freshman goalkeeper Sarah Brown. The first half scoring was wrapped up when Moulton sent an airborne cross that Austin got a body on and redirected into the back of the net.
The second half saw three more goals by PVHS, the first coming from a give-and-go from senior Mia Neal to Moulton again, who scored to complete the hat trick. For good measure, Moulton scored once more off an Austin assist later on. Cummings also netted another goal, also from the foot of Austin.
Overall the Lady Howlers were led in the scoring department by Moulton (4 goals, 1 assist), Austin (1 goal, 3 assists), Cummings (2 goals), Neal (assist) and LeBlanc (assist). Keeper Raymond saved 5 of 6 shots for Penobscot Valley, who start off the season 1-0 and will host Central on Saturday.
Bangor Christian’s goal by Lewis came from George’s assist, and goalie Brown saved 16 of 25 shots. The Lady Patriots are 0-1 and will travel to Sumner on Thursday.
