LEWISTON — Ava Feeley has scored a lot of big goals for the Yarmouth girls’ soccer team. She may have scored her biggest one Wednesday night.
Feeley chipped a shot into the right corner of the net with 2:28 remaining in the Class B South final, giving the Clippers a 3-2 win over York at Lewiston High.
“Our team, in those moments when we really need a goal, we all come together. I’m happy it went in,” said Feeley, who plans to play soccer at Boston College next year.
Yarmouth (14-3) is heading to the Class B state championship game for the first time since 2017. The Clippers will face Hermon (17-0) on Saturday at Hampden Academy.
York ends the season at 8-6-4.
Yarmouth had taken a pair of regular-season wins from York, 2-0 and 1-0.
“I told the girls, while it wasn’t the result we wanted, that was the best soccer we played all year. That’s where we wanted to be from Day 1 in August,” said York Coach Nick Hanlon.
“Ava Feeley, she’s a champion. She’s one of the best in the state. As much as we don’t want to go home with a loss, you want to lose to a champion.”
Yarmouth took a 2-1 lead with 27:32 to play when defender Neena Panozzo’s shot from the top of the box found its way into the left corner of the net. Yarmouth Coach Andy Higgins called it the biggest goal of Panozzo’s life.
“Neena’s a player who was always an attacking player coming up through,” Higgins said. “We saw some things that we thought could translate to her going to the back. She was willing to do that for us and has become a great defender. She’s been able to get forward and add that dynamic and a little bit of danger on the attack for us.”
York knotted the game with 16:25 left when Shea Haseltine scored.
“York defends really well. I thought if we could get two (goals), we’d be OK. They pushed us a little harder and we had to get three. That was a great high school soccer game,” Higgins said.
After playing just over 164 minutes against Yarmouth this season without a goal, York scored first Wednesday when Chloe Bourque fired a high shot from 30 yards = for a 1-0 lead just 4:08 into the game.
“It was kind of a wakeup call. We knew we needed to stay together throughout the whole thing,” Feeley said.
The Clippers tied it midway through the half. Feeley took a pass from Kate Sahagian and went up the middle for a breakaway, shooting the ball into the lower right corner of the net.
Twice late in the first half, it appeared Feeley had scored the go-ahead goal with shots just under the crossbar, but each time, officials ruled the ball did not completely cross the goal line.
“Thankfully, it ended the way it did, because it would’ve been tough to swallow. I thought the second one was in, the way the net danced, but they did have a better angle, and at this point, it is what it is,” Higgins said.
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