The Hall-Dale girls soccer team is playing its best soccer of the season as it prepares for the Western Maine Class C tournament this week. The Bulldogs will host a preliminary-round game Friday.

They finished the regular season 10-4-0 with a 4-0 win over Winthrop on Monday. It was their sixth win in a row.

“We finished pretty strong,” Hall-Dale coach Guy Cousins said. “We had some good wins; we even had some good losses.”

Hall-Dale’s 4-1 win against Lisbon, a team that won nine games, started the win streak.

“We have five seniors, but we have a lot of underclassmen,” Cousins said. “It’s just about getting confident on the ball.”

The five seniors — Carylanne Wolfington, Kristina Buck, Shyanne Bellavance, Jana Parsons and Paley Sweet — are all key contributors. Bellavance is a high-energy midfielder while Sweet and Parsons are back in the lineup after a year off, Sweet due to injuries and Parsons on an exchange program.

Buck and Wolfington are the team’s top scoring threats. Buck has 10 goals and four assists, while Wolfington has a school-record 22 goals and four assists. Wolfington also holds the school career scoring records of 56 goals and 25 assists despite playing just four games her freshman year because of an injury.

“She’s been playing with at least one player shadowing her all season long,” Cousins said. “She’s very aggressive and really knows when to distribute when necessary. And she’s got a bazooka for a shot.”

Freshman Olivia Maynard has played goal for the Bulldogs but suffered a concussion against Boothbay last week and likely will be unavailable Friday. Junior Megan Cope, who played goal in Monday’s shutout, will take her place.

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What began as a promising season for Erskine’s Nick Kothman ended abruptly in the fourth game when the senior midfielder tore knee ligaments that required surgery.

“There was nobody near him, he just made a cut,” Erskine coach Phil Hubbard said.

As one of the team’s captains, Kothman still meets with officials and opposing captains before each game. At the team’s last home game Monday against Messalonskee — the team Kothman was hurt playing against — he got a symbolic start.

“We started him then kicked the ball out of bounds,” Hubbard said. “It was very emotional.”

The ligaments tears to his anterior cruciate and meniscus also will prevent Kothman from wrestling this winter.

“He was going for the schools record (for wins) and was pretty close to it,” Hubbard said.

Erskine lost Monday’s game 3-2 after Chris Hall scored with five minutes left to play. Damon Bailey, a first-year senior, scored the first goal for Erskine, his fifth of the season, while senior Darrell St. Jean scored the second.

“Damon Bailey’s been a complete surprise,” Hubbard said. “He hasn’t played in quite a while.”

St. Jean leads the team with nine goals.

“For a defensive player, that’s incredible,” Hubbard said.

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The Cony girls have come on strong in the last third of the season. The Rams posted an important 3-2 win last week against Erskine that coach Jeff Hersey said might not have happened earlier in the year.

The Rams led 2-0 before the Eagles tied the game late in the second half.

“Three weeks ago we would have lost that game,” Hersey said. “The girls just rallied around each other. For the last five minutes of the game they weren’t going to be denied.”

Three players in particular have picked up the offense over the five-game stretch. Mia Diplock had eight goals and three assists over that span, while Josie Lee had four goals and five assists and Hayley Quirion four goals and two assists.

Goalie Melanie Guzman also returned after missing four games with a bruised kneecap and registered three shutouts in five games.

“The kids really feed off her in net,” Hersey said.

Hersey went to four across in the back of his formation, and that also has paid dividends.

“We have four sophomores in the back,” he said, listing Lindsay Quirion, Alexis Dostie, Olivia Deeves and Alyssah Dennett. “Those four girls have come together as a unit. They communicate so well.”

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Richmond girls coach Troy Kendrick was hoping for a little more of a test in his team’s past two games. Saturday, the defending Class D state champs played Sacopee Valley, which won the Class C title last year, and beat them 7-0.

“I knew they had graduated a lot,” Kendrick said. “They had a good team. Whenever we got a good chance we put it in the back of the net.”

On Monday, the Bobcats wrapped up their regular season with a 6-1 win against Calvary Chapel, an Eastern Maine tournament team.

Senior Danica Hurley scored a hat trick in each game, bringing her season total to 33 goals. Kendrick thinks she’s the school’s career leader in goals.

“I’ve got to do some research,” he said.

Richmond finished at 12-1-0, its only loss an overtime decision to Class C power Waynflete. The Bobcats have a bye for the opening round of the tournament and don’t play until a week from Friday.

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com