SOUTH CHINA — It was the best of times and the worst of times for the Erskine Academy soccer teams in Class B North preliminary round playoff games on Saturday.

The eighth-seeded boys blanked No. 9 Foxcroft Academy 5-0 to advance to the Class B North quarterfinals, while the fourth-seeded girls were upset by No. 13 Maine Central Institute 2-1 in overtime.

Seniors Michael Sprague and Alex Cleaves each scored twice for the Eagles (10-4-1), who will travel to meet top-seeded Presque Isle on Wednesday.

Sprague, a striker, scored midway through the first half to put Erskine ahead, and his penalty kick in the 35th minute sent the home team into halftime with a 2-0 lead.

“The other teams we’ve played this year on our side of things, we know that a 2-0 (deficit) is something they can dig themselves out of,” Erskine coach Carrie Larrabee said.

That set the stage for freshman Sam York, whose goal in the 42nd minute extended the Eagle advantage to three goals.

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“We knew that we needed to score right off the bat starting out that second half,” Larrabee said. “To have him step up like that was big for us.”

Cleaves, who also assisted on the opening goal of the day, closed it out with a pair of late goals to support goalkeeper David McGraw’s shutout.

In the girls game, the Huskies (7-8-0) used Sydney Morton’s header off a corner kick four minutes into the extra session to advance to the regional quarterfinals.

“We had opportunities,” Erskine coach Ryan Nored said. “MCI won it. There was nothing cheap about it. The second goal was just a pure hustle goal.”

After MCI took a 1-0 lead into halftime, Haymanot Maynard knotted things up for Erskine (9-3-3) early in the second half.

Morton finished with a goal and an assist in the match.

Travis Barrett — 621-5621

tbarrett@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TBarrettGWC


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