Lady Eagle Sophie Schumacher beats Waterville goal keeper Gabrielle Martin and Cody Veilleux to the ball to score for Lincoln Academy. The goal was the first scored against the Purple Panthers all season. (Paula Roberts photo) |
Lillian Bisset heads the ball for the Lady Eagles. (Paula Roberts photo) |
Scoring one goal in a 4-1 loss in a KVAC championship game sounds a little trifling, but for the Lady Eagles of Lincoln Academy, it was a victory of sorts. The Waterville girls
soccer team had not given up a goal in 14 games during their undefeated KVAC season, and had out-scored their opponents 79-0.
Coach Donovan York’s mission was to score on them, and that is just what his Lady Eagles did under the lights at Morse Friday, Oct. 24.
Waterville’s Pilar Elias gave the Purple Panthers a 1-0 lead in the first half. Lincoln keeper Miranda Achorn came out of the net to stop a Waterville breakaway, but
the Panthers got the pass off and Elias redirected the ball into an empty net at the far post.
Lillian Bisset sent a long through pass into Panther territory and Eagle teammate Sophie Schumacher sprinted to it, beating out keeper Gabrielle Martin and a
defender. Schumacher’s shot from 30 yards out rolled into an open net with 1:05 to play in the half to tie the game at 1-1 at the break.
“The first half we stayed with them. You could see how frustrated we made them. They made some adjustments at the half. They are undefeated for a reason. I can’t
fault my girls. They made a great effort,” York said.
The second half belonged to Waterville. Lincoln had two breakaway shots in the second half, from Chloe Hallowell and Anna Quinlan, but both were stopped by Martin in
net for the Panthers.
Waterville took the lead for good eight minutes into the second half when Waterville moved the ball down the left side and had a series of three short passes to the
right. Lydia Roy scored with Sarah Shoulta collecting the assist.
Waterville went up 3-1 with 27:11 to play when Mackenzie St. Pierre collected a feed from Roy and booted it high and just under the cross bar. Elias scored her
second goal of the night five minutes later when she collected a pass from Jordan Jubar and put it back against the grain inside the right post.
“We are getting ready for York. This was a great tune-up. I couldn’t have asked for a better scrimmage,” York said of the Lady Eagles upcoming quarterfinal match
against York to be held at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 29 at Lincoln Academy.
Waterville held a 23-6 edge in shots. Achorn made 10 saves and Christine Hilton two for the Eagles, and Martin made four saves for Waterville.