Thornton, Sanford end in tie

SACO — It seemed fitting, really.

Two teams, bound for the playoffs, meeting up for a regular season matchup to possibly determine a higher seed.

And it ends in a tie.

The Thornton Academy girls soccer team went neck-and-neck for 90 minutes with Sanford on Friday night at Hill Stadium, and both walked off the field deadlocked at a 1-1.

It’s the first matchup of the season between both teams, and possibly the final, depending on what happens in the Western Class A playoffs. But both teams came away from the game with confidence as they come close to closing out the regular season.

“We just lost our last game to Windham, which is another quality team,” Sanford head coach Kendra Brown said. “I think this is the same kind of thing. Hopefully they have a better feeling after this game than when they played the Windham game. We’ll still get points out of a tie instead of a loss, and I told them after last game that we’re going to see championship-type games from now until the end of the season and into the playoffs. There’s not going to be any easy games where we just show up and beat someone, we’re going to have to work hard for everything we get.”

Both teams have one game remaining in the regular season, which will end on Oct. 18. If the season ended today, Thornton (10-1-2) enters as the No. 4 seed in the playoffs, while Sanford (8-3-2)enters as a No. 8 seed.

“It was a good game to get everyone ready for the tournament,” Thornton head coach Chris Kohl said. “It’s a great playoff (type) game, it’s great playoff experience. We can’t recreate this in practice. We had some opportunities, they had some opportunities, and both defenses played well.”

The Redskins got the first crack on the Trojans in the game. Less than 10 minutes into the contest, Sanford’s Taylor Littlefield took a corner kick from Kayla Cote, wound up and fired a shot past Trojans goalie Emily Richard to give the Redskins a 1-0 lead.

While Sanford kept the pressure on for most of the first half, the Trojans quickly turned the tide, and kept the ball on the Sanford side of the field. At the 12-minute mark, Thornton’s Jamie Durie took a pass from Camilla Olsson, broke away from defenders and nailed a kick into the top corner of the net past Sanford goalie Kellie Tovey to tie the game at 1-1, where it remained until halftime.

For Durie, the goal was her team-leading 13th of the season.

Thornton kept the pressure on offensively through much of the second half, and had multiple chances to score. With 16 minutes to play in the half, Olsson wound up and fired a shot, which Tovey stopped. But the Trojans’ greatest chance to score came with three minutes left in regulation, when Amanda Arnold smacked a shot that beat Tovey, but nailed the left post, bouncing back onto the field. It was the last chance the Trojans had of scoring in the contest.

Neither team gained ground on the other during both overtime periods, ending the contest with the 1-1 tie.

Kohl praised the Redskins on their play after the match.

“Sanford always plays us tough, they’re a good team,” he said. “It’s fitting that this game ended in a tie. Normally, we never tie them, it’s usually a one goal game one way or the other, but it was definitely a very good game.”

The Trojans host Portland in their regular season finale on Oct. 18, while Sanford hosts Deering.

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