AUBURN – After nearly 100 minutes of intense, energized soccer, the final seconds of the Waynflete-St. Dominic girls’ match Wednesday looked in slow motion.
Under darkening skies and light rain, Waynflete midfielder Sadie Cole connected on a kick through a crowd. Everyone watched as the ball sailed up and up.
“I really thought it was soaring over the top,” Cole said. (But) it was just perfect.”
Cole’s shot tucked under the crossbar to give the Flyers a 2-1 double-overtime victory for the Western Class C championship.
Fourth-seeded Waynflete (11-2-4), which lost last year’s title game in overtime to the Saints, advances to Saturday’s state championship game against Fort Kent (13-3-1) at Scarborough High.
No. 2 St. Dom’s finishes 14-2-1.
Waynflete rebounded from a 1-0 halftime deficit. Arianna Giguere scored early in the second half and then both goalkeepers stood out.
Waynflete’s Juliana Harwood made 11 saves, and St. Dom’s Kelly Pomerleau made 13, some while jumping into a crowd to seize the ball.
“The other keeper was amazing,” Harwood said. “So many of her saves, I was so impressed. I probably couldn’t have made them.”
But Harwood made some beauties, including a couple of charges to smother breakaway threats, including one early in the second overtime.
“Good technique, right spot, right time,” Waynflete Coach Todd Dominski said.
Dominski’s team needed Harwood, and a better second-half effort. St. Dom’s outshot the Flyers 8-4 in the first half. Saints forward Faith Grady scored on a rebound, kicking into an open net with 14:09 left in the half.
“We were flat the first half,” Dominski said. “St. Dom’s definitely wanted it more. We (coaches) asked for a lot more in the second half.”
And they got it. The Flyers began attacking with Sofia Canning creating at midfield, and right wing Walker Foehl threatening with her launches into the box. From the defense, Rhiannan Jackson and Sophie Raffel kept sending the ball back.
Early in the second half, Isabel Agnew crossed a pass into the box, and Giguere drilled it in for a 1-1 tie.
“Arianna and I have been working all season on synchronizing our runs,” Agnew said. “I popped it in there and hoped she’d get a foot on it.”
St. Dom’s had chances, too. Grady, Emma Byrne, Marley Byrne and both Kelley and Kayla McLellan kept attacking. Meanwhile, Katie Emery and Emily Poulin anchored a defense that had allowed only two goals all season.
“We left our hearts on the field. We played intense. They played intense,” St. Dom’s Coach Kathy Little said.
Staff writer Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:
kthomas@pressherald.com
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