The Lady Eagles Girls varsity soccer team’s week in review in three easy steps:
1. Monday - Coach
Lebel gives birth to baby Benjamin.
2. Wednesday - the
Lady Eagles win the Class A Western Maine Regional Finals against Thornton
Academy.
3. Saturday - the
Lady Eagles become Class A State Champions!
Top-ranked Windham hosted number three Thornton Academy
Wednesday night under the lights at the Windham High School Stadium. Coach
Lebel, who gave birth to her son on Monday, came to cheer her girls on along
with the fans for both teams. The photographers were surrounding the
soccer field ready to capture the moment in picture as we all waited to see who
would be crowned champion.
The Lady Eagles took an early lead in both drive and
desire by keeping the ball in Thornton Academy’s territory for most of the
first half. Sophomore Ciera Berthiaume scored Windham’s first goal showing TA
that she was here to play and to the delight of the Eagles Nest crowd making
the game 1-0. Senior Jenna Soucy showed TA’s defense that she also was here to
perform and could get by their defense to score the second goal for Windham.
The second half started with Windham 2 – TA 0. However,
the TA’s offense must have gotten a pep talk by their coach because they
stepped up their game scored their first goal within two minutes of half time. The
game continued as a fast paced, aggressive performance from both sides that was
just too exciting to remain seated. Emily Gilman and a TA player collided that
resulted in the TA player sitting out the remainder of the game.
Ciara Berthiaume scored again with an assist from Cassie
Symonds, making the score Windham-3 to TA-1. TA rallied back with back to back
goals tying and forcing the championship game into overtime.
The first 15-minute overtime period went scoreless making
the fans wonder if it will all come down to penalty kicks as the semifinal game
against Scarborough did. Moving in to the second overtime period with 10:47
left to play, Berthiaume forces TA to a corner kick. Kicking the ball low,
Berthiaume found senior Emily Gorrivan as she made her way through the TA
players using her body to drive the ball home. Gorrivan, not even realizing or
believing what she had just done took a moment to realize that she made the
Lady Eagles champions!
As the Lady Eagles headed to states on Saturday in Bath
against the Bangor Rams they carried with them their motto “Offense wins
games but defense wins championships”.
And that is just what happened on Saturday, the offense
took charge of the game out shooting Bangor with shots on goal 38-8. While the
defense kept the ball from getting too close to goalkeeper Kate Kneeland and
the net by keeping the ball over the midfield line.
The first half of the game went scoreless. However, 51
seconds into the second half Ciera Berthiaume accepted a pass from Shannon
Valente to score the first of three goals for the Lady Eagles. Once the
momentum started there was no stopping the girls from Windham. Luisa Sbardella
scored the second goal of the game 27 minutes later when she accepted a pass
from Jenna Soucy and out maneuvered Bangor’s defender for the ball. Jenna Soucy
wrapped up the third goal about three minutes later when she accepted a pass
from Emily Gorrivan while making her way past three Bangor defenders to find
her way into the net.
The Rams were trying their best throughout the game to
bring the ball into Windham territory, while Cassie Symonds, Shannon Valente
and Katie Herzig continued their efforts to push the ball back and block any
attempts made by Bangor. The Rams were successful a few times and got down
field, however, the Lady Eagle defenders consisting of Emily Gilman, Ariana
Davidson, Lauren Shoemaker, Laura McKenna, Jordan Sargent and Hannah Haskell
just would not allow that to happen and made the Rams go home scoreless.
The ‘Eagles Nest’ classmates came to Bath to cheer on
their Lady Eagles and it was exciting to see all the fans, parents, family, and
friends and school faculty that were there also to support them. It was a great
year to be a part of this team in any of these positions. The team is made up
of a wonderful bunch of girls, great parents, great fan support and great coaching.
Fans can’t wait to see what happens next year.
Congratulations Windham Lady Eagles Varsity Girls Soccer!
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