(Naples ME) Abigail Roberts to the rescue.
The Lake Region sophomore scored twice in the final 8 ½ minutes to give the Lakers (3-4) an exciting, 4-2, win over Poland (1-7) today.
LR coach David Jaeger said of Abigail, “Give her some space. Give her some time and she’s going to put it around the keeper.”
The Lakers scored on long shots by Shelby Sheldrick and Hailey Brewer to carry a, 2-0, lead into the final thirty minutes of the game.
It looked as if the Knights might be heading for another shutout loss.
Not today.
“I was proud of the girls fighting back,” said Poland coach Tyler Connors afterwards. “It was 2-0 at one point.”
The Knights had a pretty good breeze to their backs in the second half.
A corner kick by Gretchen Paradis put the visitors on the board. Gretchen’s kick curled right into the top of the far corner.
“The wind helped that kick,” recalled Coach Connors.
Eight minutes later things were even.
“On that second goal, Lexi Wallingford made a good pass to Ava Anderson,” said Coach Connors. “Ava lined it up from the left from about 20-25 feet.”
So, with fourteen minutes remaining in the game it was, 2-2.
“I was scared a bit when they tied it and it was going downhill,” said Abigail Roberts post-game.
When the Knights pressed to get the lead, Abigail was able to take advantage of weakened Poland defense.
“Abigail is a quick player,” said Coach Jaeger. “If we can get her out wide in space, she has a confident touch.”
Abigail broke in from the right and at 8:38 put LR in front for good. “I snuck it in the corner,” she said.
When Poland went all-out to tie the game, Abigail had a second break-in and cashed that with two minutes left to push the LR lead to, 4-2.
“It was nice to come out on top in a home game,” said Coach Jaeger.
Shelby Sheldrick’s goal was off a free kick from the left. The Knights had a wall set up, but Shelby shot right past it into the upper near corner.
Hailey Brewer’s goal was another shot over the Poland GK. “She kicked it with her left foot which is not her favorite,” said Coach Jaeger.
Coach Jaeger had praise for goalie Jordan Blanton. “She came up big when we needed it on that first-half penalty kick that would have tied the score.”
Abigail Roberts goals today were her second and third of the season. “I usually play center-mid so it’s hard to score,” said Abigail.
Coach Connors: “The Lakers possessed the ball very well. They attacked our sidelines which we kind of gave up a little bit. Their strikers made good timing runs and that was the difference today.”
Coach Jaeger: “Poland worked hard, and all the girls gave 100%. They came back and didn’t put their heads down when they fell behind.”
Coach Jaeger: “Both schools are in Class B. We play strong competition. We are on the smaller side of Class B. We don’t have nearly the athletes that the Portland area schools have. But we compete.”
How often does it happen? The referee made a mistake, and a player (Lexi Wallingford) made the correction. The referee was all set to give Poland a direct kick, but Lexi told him the kick was Lake Region’s.
There was rain in the afternoon, but things cleared out for the game.
(All pictures will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)
McClelland Miscellanea 