RICHMOND — The Richmond girls soccer team needed a spark after playing a scoreless first half against Greenville in the Western Maine Class D championship game Wednesday.
The Bobcats got one from a familiar source when senior Danica Hurley took a clearing pass near midfield and beat two defenders before burying a shot in the left corner of the goal. Richmond took off from there, dominating play on its way to a 5-0 win against the Lakers.
Additional Photos
The top-seeded Bobcats (14-1-0) face Eastern Maine champion Van Buren for the state title Saturday at Falmouth High School. Second-seeded Greenville finishes at 11-5-0.
Hurley, who scored her 100th career goal last week, took a long pass from Ciarra Lancaster just after the Lakers had taken a corner kick. With two defenders in front of her, Hurley dribbled to her right, past one and around the other, before beating Lakers goalie Carli Peat to the far corner.
“She is very clever with the ball,” Kendrick said of Hurley. “She does a good job of possessing the ball. She has a real good feel for the game.”
Freshman Amber Loon scored a minute later when she volleyed in a corner kick from Sadie Gosse to open the floodgates. Noell Acord, Gosse and finally Hurley again wrapped up the scoring. The first half was surprisingly close considering the Bobcats had won both regular-season meetings.
“After the first half I was actually really nervous,” Hurley said. “Obviously our game plan was to come out and score early and then just cruise along. So coming out (in the second half) I scored one, then Amber right after. That made me feel a lot better.”
Greenville coach Chris Fenn told his team at halftime they were playing their best game of the season. The Bobcats held a 5-3 edge in shots on goal but were nowhere near dominating the action.
“This is one of the few times this year where we got sucked into their style of play,” Kendrick said. “Instead of playing our style — keeping the ball on the ground, keeping possession, getting wide — the ball was flying around. When the ball’s flying around a lot, that’s a bad thing for us.”
The Bobcats outshot the Lakers 9-1 in the second half. It helped they played in the dry end of the field, too.
“I think that had a lot to do with our not-so-good performance in the first half,” Hurley said. “I’d check back and go get a ball and fall down and say ‘Man, like this is difficult.’ “
Loon took a perfectly placed corner kick from Gosse for her 11th goal of the season.
“I just stuck my foot out and put it in,” Loon said.
The Bobcats scored on another corner kick when Bri Snedeker crossed a ball to Acord, who headed it in. It was the junior’s 10th goal of the season. Gosse scored her 12th of the season when her long direct kick found its way through a crowd in front of the Greenville net. Hurley wrapped up the scoring off an assist from Acord with her 35th goal of the season.
The Bobcats got a strong defensive effort in the first half in particular from Leandra Martin, Katie Webster, Lancaster, Snedeker and goalkeeper Lindsy Hoopingarner, who made four saves.
“I’m really proud of my defenders,” Kendrick said. “You can play like we did in the first half, not so great, but at least play good defense and you’re always in the game.”
Gary Hawkins — 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.