It was supposed to be a breakout game for one of the teams, but it turned out to be just another tie for unbeaten Windham and a missed opportunity for Cheverus to register a big win in an SMAA girls’ soccer game Wednesday.
Windham rallied from a two-goal deficit to forge a 3-3 tie at Boulos Stadium.
“The girls were disappointed,” Cheverus Coach Craig Roberts said. “They want to win. They didn’t want just a tie. In the past a tie would have been good enough but I don’t think it is with this group. They want more.”
The tie left Cheverus with a 4-1-1 record.
It was the third tie for Windham, which opened with two victories: 7-0 against Westbrook and 8-0 over Massabesic.
“The schedule got much tougher after those first two games, and it’s going to continue to get tougher,” Windham Coach Deb Lebel said. “Now we’re getting into the thick of our schedule and we need to break away from some of these ties.”
The Eagles are 3-0-3.
Statistically, the game was nearly even. The Eagles held a 17-16 edge in shots and an 8-7 edge in corner kicks.
The Stags took a 2-0 lead less than 11 minutes into the game.
In the fifth minute, Emily Turner got loose on the right side and sent a hard shot from 25 yards into the far corner after receiving Katie Gordon’s pass from the middle of the field.
In the 10th minute, freshman Emma Gallant sent a penalty kick into the right side of the goal after she was pushed down well inside the area following the Stags’ second corner kick of the game.
“Cheverus came out really strong and they kind of owned that first 20 minutes,” Lebel said. “We came out flat.”
The Eagles gradually found their way back into the game.
With less than five minutes left in the first half, Maggie Lloyd got a foot on the ball during a melee in front of the Cheverus goal and rolled it from 10 yards. Hannah Kaplan assisted on the goal.
Cheverus took a 3-1 lead less than two minutes into the second half when Gordon intercepted a clearing pass and sent a high arcing shot from 30 yards toward the far corner. The ball went in off the top part of the left goal post as goalkeeper Kaitlyn Roberts was timing her leap to stop it.
The rest of the second half belonged to Windham.
During the 59th minute, Holly Spencer made it 3-2 when she scored following Emily Kent’s direct kick from above the bubble.
Five minutes later, Lloyd put in a penalty kick inside the right post to tie the score after she was pushed down inside the penalty area.
“You can’t lose a two-goal lead and let the other team in it,” Roberts said. “A team like Windham, you have to put away.”
Cheverus made another run at the Eagles during the 10 minutes of overtime. It held a 4-0 edge in shots but Roberts, who wound with 13 saves, stopped all of them.
Katie Boynton made 12 saves for Cheverus.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
