Oxford Hills’ Maddie Oliveira, left, dribbles the ball as Mt. Ararat’s Katherine Therriault pursues during the second half of a Class A North girls soccer quarterfinal match Tuesday at Stadium Field in Topsham. The Eagles advanced with a 5-0 victory. Eric Maxim/The Times Record
TOPSHAM — The Mt. Ararat girls soccer team wasted little time Tuesday night setting the tone in a Class A North quarterfinal game against Oxford Hills.
The No. 4 Eagles scored four first-half goals en route to a 5-0 victory over the fifth-seeded Vikings.
Junior standout midfielder Islah Godo scored two goals to lead Mt. Ararat (11-3-1), which will play top-seeded Bangor (14-1-0) in the regional semifinals at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The Vikings finished 7-6-2.
“It’s a year of firsts for these girls. We had really good result against Brunswick (4-3 double-overtime win in the regular season finale), a team they hadn’t beaten in years, and now the same for a playoff game,” Mt. Ararat coach Kevin Flaherty said. “I’m happy for the girls, just their performance and how they’ve bought into us (coaches) and the way we want to play.”
With just under 23 minutes left in the first half, Godo opened the scoring when she scored off an assist from Elena Willis. Just three and a half minutes later, Willis scored off a pass from Emma Berry to make it 2-0.
“We’ve talked all year how we need to own the first 15-20 minutes and get the first goal in order to control the rest of the game, and that’s what we did,” said Godo, who is one of the top midfielders in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. “That really pumped us up.”
Added Flaherty, whose team defeated the Vikings 6-0 earlier this month: “The first 15-20 minutes are really important. Oxford Hills is a good team and they defend well. We knew we needed to strike first and we connected.”
Julianna Allen made it 3-0 with 6:32 remaining, with Willis assisting. Godo capped the scoring in the first half when she buried a shot to the far left side of the net for her second goal of the game.
“The first 20-25 minutes in the half I thought we did a very good job defending and staying manned up,” Vikings coach Brittany Moore said. “There were just a few moments where we let them get behind or we weren’t goal side, and sometimes that was two people in a row, and they capitalized on it. They have some really good players.”
Senior Lexie Dupre netted the Eagles’ fifth goal four minutes into the second half off another Allen assist.
“We’re a very unselfish team,” Godo said. “We don’t have just one person that does it all. We work well together, which has helped us this season.”
The Eagles controlled loose balls at midfield and their defense prevented Vikings’ scoring threat Ella Pelletier from creating any scoring opportunities.
“Halftime was probably the toughest conversation because most of them had the face looking like the game was over,” Moore said. “I didn’t want them to regret how they played the second half so I knew they could go out there and still battle. They kept them to one goal in the second half.”
The Eagles out-shot Oxford Hills 18-4 and controlled the corner kicks, 8-1.
Mt. Ararat keeper Calista Kinney had four saves to earn the shutout.
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