Bangor’s Emilyn Streams (14) and Mt. Ararat’s Hannah Hawkes (25) have their eyes on the bouncing ball during Thursday’s girls soccer game in Topsham. Streams had an assist in the Rams’ 6-0 win. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)
TOPSHAM — Chad Kirk has seen his Mt. Ararat High School girls soccer team start slow throughout the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference season.
Despite this, the Eagles entered Thursday’s home match at Riverside Field against Bangor with a 5-2 record and sat in the No. 2 spot in the Class A North Heal Point Standings.
The Rams, who eliminated the Eagles in last year’s Class A North quarterfinals by a 5-1 score, were not impressed, pouncing on Mt. Ararat for four goals in the game’s first eight minutes en route to a 6-0 victory.
Bangor came out of the gates hard, possessing the ball and sending shots to the right places on goal.
Maddie Ahola’s opening goal was struck from just outside the penalty area and sailed over the out-stretched hands of Mt. Ararat starting goaltender Maddi Kinney 2:01 into the game.
Two minutes later, Meg Putnam finished a crossing pass from Sasha Jansujkwicz to double the Ram lead.
Junior striker Devin St. Louis took over from there, launching a shot into the cage with 33:32 left in the first half.
Freshman goaltender Elsa Daulerio relieved Kinney in the Mt. Ararat cage, but just
Mt. Ararat girls soccer player Brennan Thiboutot (17) looks up the field after slipping past Bangor’s Anna Connors (1) during Thursday’s KVAC contest in Topsham. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)
seconds into her stint St. Louis gathered a lead pass from Emilyn Streams and fired a shot into the net for a 4-0 Bangor advantage with 31:56 left in the opening frame.
“Normally we are a second-half team, but today we collectively came out and communicated a lot and connected,” said St. Louis. “We found the goal and shot a lot. We really worked from the backline to the striker. This is a very important win for all of us.”
“We played last night (at Lewiston), and the day before we were waiting to go there, and injuries are hurting me, but we will survive, and this is one loss,” said Kirk, whose Eagles head to Skowhegan on Saturday at 10 a.m. “We will work on things that we can do. We just need to put two halves together. Today, they hammered us.”
Bangor carried its 4-0 lead into the break, with defender Isabel Parkin controlling the back, limiting the Eagles from generating offense.
Second–half surge
Mt. Ararat’s Emma Hanna (4) battles with Bangor’s Anna Connors during a girls KVAC soccer in Topsham on Thursday. The host Eagles fell to the Rams, 6-0. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)
Mt. Ararat began the second half by pinning the Rams in their defensive zone. Though the pressure failed to lead to shots on Hannah Osmer’s goal, the Eagles did begin to spread the ball around and force Bangor (5-3-1) into chasing.
However, Mt. Ararat’s push forward was short-lived. Osmer sent a booming kick toward midfield, with Putnam quickly gathering and sending a pass to the sprinting St. Louis. She picked up the ball, dodged Daulerio and finished into the empty net for her third goal.
Bangor completed the scoring with 6:26 left on a penalty kick from Alyssa Elliott.
For Kirk, he feels his team needs some time to rest up as the regular season hits the final stretch. After Saturday, the Eagles have four days to recover before heading to Cony on Wednesday.
“We need to heal, rest, and after Saturday we don’t play until Wednesday. We will have a three-day weekend and the kids will stay away from me. I told them to eat, drink and heal. That is what we need,” said Kirk.
Daulerio finished with eight saves, while Kinney turned away one. Osmer made five stops for the shutout.
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