Third seed Old Town defeated sixth seed Medomak Valley girls’ soccer team on Tuesday 2-1 in an exciting East B quarterfinal match-up in Old Town.
The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 halftime lead nine minutes into the game on a shot from Taylor Keefe. Kasey Benner set up the goal when she won the ball at midfield and passed up the field to Alanna Vose. Vose found Keefe open on a breakaway pass, that saw Keefe out run a defender and score the go ahead goal.
Medomak was called offsides twice on breakaway passes in the half, snuffing out good scoring opportunities. The Panthers got off eight shots in the half, including shots from Keefe, Julie Ennamorati and Elise Wallace that were stopped by Coyote keeper Ashley Abbott.
On the defensive end of the field, Ericka Christensen made four saves, including stopping the speedy Kate Deshane on a breakaway five minutes into the contest. Benner, Mallory Conary, Lacy Massengale, Nicole Peterson and Courtney Leach all came up with huge defensive plays to keep Old Town off the boards in 1st half action.
With 1:08 to play in the half, Old Town’s Ann Cashon and Micayla Hussey crashed hard into each other while defending against Taylor Keefe on a breakaway. Hussey was taken off the field by ambulance with a leg injury.
After a 45-minute delay, play resumed, followed by the halftime break. The delay, took Medomak out of their game, and the Coyotes’ 2nd half rallying cry became “fight for Micayla.”
Of the momentum shift, coach Joel Lufkin said, “the injury to their player seemed to motivate them.” Medomak “was doing fantastic up to that point. We had brilliant looks and passing.”
The Coyotes wasted no time in the 2nd half knotting the score. Deshane converted a feed from Meagan Cousins for a breakaway goal with 38:25 remaining in the period.
Old Town’s game winner was scored by Cousins on a high lofty shot to the upper right corner with 28:03 to play. Kayla Brooks was credited with the assist.
Medomak had several opportunities to tie things up. Benner put a nice high ball on net on a direct kick from 20 yards out, but Abbott made a great play to prevent the score. With 12 minutes to go, Alanna Vose put a nice pass across the mouth of the goal, but Maria Ennamorati was unable to get a foot on it at the far post. Benner missed wide, and Conary was stopped by Abbott with a minute to play as time ran out on Medomak’s comeback bid.
Medomak held a 19 to 16 advantage in shots. Christensen made 11 saves for the Panthers, and Abbott 10 saves for the Coyotes.
Medomak wraps up the season with a 10-5 record. Old Town improves to 11-2-2 and advances to the East B semifinals. In a twist of fate, Medomak ended Old Town’s East B bid last year during the 2008 season.
