As far as Penobscot Valley Conference area girls soccer teams are concerned, there aren’t many with the level of consistent excellence as the Central Red Devils (Class C) and the Penobscot Valley Howlers (Class D). Central hasn’t finished lower than 5th in the Heal Point standings since 2014, while PVHS hasn’t been below 3rd place since 2013 in their respective divisions.
On Saturday afternoon, these traditional powerhouse teams met up at Dave Lovett Memorial Field in Howland, with the Lady Howlers coming out on top 2-1.
Central set the tone just over 20 minutes into the game, where they drew a foul about 20 yards outside the 18. Senior Makenzie Rushlow sent the free kick into the box, where it found the feet of Maddie Cox who converted the goal into the lower left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The goal seemed to awaken PVHS, as just 33 seconds later they knotted it up. It started with a Ashlyn St. Cyr possession on the right side, who then found Lila Cummings in the middle of the field. Cummings carried the ball toward the left corner of the box, drawing a handful of defenders along the way, and crossed it to Rylee Moulton around the penalty kick line. Moulton one-timed the ball past keeper Sydney Gray for the equalizer and her fifth goal of the early season.
The game remained tied with under five minutes to go in the first half, when Penobscot Valley scored what turned out to be the game winner. It started with a corner kick off the foot of Cummings that ended up being deflected right back to her near the endline. Lila sent the ball over the goal box to a streaking St. Cyr, who took the ball out of mid-air and put it in for the well-executed goal.
Both teams had chances throughout the second half, as the heat started to take a toll on the players. The Red Devils best opportunity came with under five minutes to go, when Mary Allen sent a chip from 25 yards out that lofted over Howlers goalkeeper Brooklynn Raymond, and was heading for a sure-goal. The freshman keeper backpedaled and stretched to get a hand on it, and tipped it high enough that it hit the crossbar instead. Then quickly put the ball back in play to preserve the lead.
Raymond finished with 10 saves on 18 shots. Penobscot Valley improved to 2-0 on the season, and will travel to George Stevens Academy on Tuesday.
Gray for Central, who also made several timely saves, stopped 16 of 20 shots. The Red Devils drop to 1-2, and will play their first home game of the season against Orono on Tuesday.
Information for this recap provided by Jeremy Durost- Photo is courtesy of Feldmus Photography
