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HERMON — For the third straight year, the Penobscot Valley girls soccer team is taking a Gold Ball back to Howland.
The Howlers scored in each half to beat Ashland, 2-0, in the Class D final Saturday at Pottle Field. Lila Cummings and Rylee Moulton each had a goal and an assist, while Hermon goalkeeper Brooklynn Raymond made eight saves.
“This feels great, really great,” said Cummings, a senior. “We’ve done this before, but to come back and do this a third time as seniors is really amazing. I think a lot of people are going to remember this run that we’ve had.”
Added Moulton: “Also, this particular season, we’ve had multiple members of our team go down with injuries. We’re not at full strength. We’ve lost three starters to injuries. It just shows what we can do as a team and what we’ve been trained to do as a team.”
The Howlers (13-2-2) were making the fourth straight appearance in the state championship game. They have played in five state finals since 2019.
Angel Hafford made six saves for Ashland, which finished 16-1.
Penobscot Valley took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Moulton placed a corner kick perfectly in front of the Ashland net, and Cummings met the ball with her right foot, knocking it past Hafford.
“That goal made all the difference in the world,” said Penobscot Valley coach Jeremy Durost. “We’ve had some games this year where we’ve had great opportunities to score, but that pressure and tenseness kind of comes with it. We haven’t played that relaxed (during games), so that was a great buffer for us. We didn’t think that would necessarily be enough, but we knew that gave us a sigh of relief.”
Moulton added: “It just took so much pressure off of us. We could just play more freely, unlike our divisional (round) game, where we were tied going into halftime.”
The Howlers had the early edge in possession, but Ashland turned the offensive pressure around late in the first half and outshot Penobscot Valley by a 7-6 margin.
Penobscot Valley was more threatening in the second half. After two early scoring opportunities, Moulton finally found the back of the net in the 55th minute, off a corner kick from Cummings. Moulton’s header bounced just to the right of Hafford into the corner of the net.
The match was physical on both ends of the pitch, with multiple stoppages to give players a chance to collect themselves from injuries.
Penobscot Valley finished with a 13-12 edge in shots. It was the Howlers’ 13th shutout of the season. Fort Kent and Houlton were the only teams to score on Penobscot Valley.
“There were just so many things that were going up against us, including a tough schedule,” Durost said. “I think it prepared us for this, because (Ashland) is a very good team. To be able to hold them scoreless, I think they (averaged) 6.2 goals per game. Credit to our leadership, the defense and (Raymond) and just credit to us taking advantage of our opportunities when we had them.”
