Then there’s other times, such as Thursday afternoon for the Oak Hill girls, when the avalanche doesn’t come.
The Raiders followed up their second-minute goal with only a flurry of empty chances, but did find their scoring touch once again in a 4-1 victory over Boothbay.
The game wasn’t even two minutes old when Oak Hill senior Tamara Morgan blasted a shot from the right side into the net in her final regular-season home game. But that goal stood as the lone tally in the game for much of the first half.
It was a frustrating series of missed shots that followed for the Raiders.
“Oh yeah, especially when we take so many shots off the net and none of them fall in the back of the net. It’s very frustrating,” Oak Hill junior Emma Hlister said. “So it’s nice to finally get one in there and then it continues after.”
The “one in there” Hlister spoke of was the other shoe that finally dropped for the Raiders, and it came off her boot. Hlister doubled the Oak Hill lead with 2:45 remaining before halftime on a half-volley shot from the top of the box.
“I think the key to Emma’s goal was Brittaney (Marquis) winning the goal kick. Having a nice header right in front of Emma, and Emma being able to have a nice volley to herself and timing it right,” Oak Hill head coach Nicole Camire said.
Hlister said her goal was the spark her team needed to get going for the rest of the game.
“It sets us up for the next half, to be ready to go and finish the game up,” Hlister said. “I thought it definitely was important and it helped to succeed for the second half.”
Hlister did the setting up for the Raiders’ next goal, which came 12 minutes into the second half. Her corner kick — one of 14 in the game for Oak Hill — from the right side landed on the far side of the goal mouth and right to senior teammate Jamie Prue, who didn’t miss on the 6-yard shot.
“It was very nice seeing one of those go in. It was very nice timing, as well, being able to put Jamie Prue in right before the corner kick, and she was able to put it away. Nice for her senior game, very nice cross from Emma,” Camire said. “And it’s nice to have that timing down when the ball’s in front of the net and put it away.”
“I was actually aiming exactly where (Prue) went. There was a wide-open gap right there, and I knew that she was going to cut there, so I was aiming for that spot,” Hlister said. “And it just so happened to go there and she finished on it.”
Halee Lair finished the scoring for Oak Hill with less than seven minutes remaining on a breakaway shot from the top of the box.
The Raiders and sophomore goalie Anna Dodge looked primed to complete the shutout until the Seahawks (3-9-1) were awarded a penalty kick resulting from a handball in the box with 1:25 left. Reagan Cola buried the shot into the left side of the goal to put Boothbay on the board.
Dodge finished with three saves, while Seahawks freshman Hannah Cola stopped 13 shots.
Camire said she would have liked a better early showing from her team, but a grueling late-season schedule was partly to blame.
“We’re tired. This was our third game of the week. We have another game on Saturday. I thought we could have played faster. I thought we could have won more balls. I thought we could have communicated more, but we’ve also had a very long week,” Camire said. “We’re looking to play strong on Saturday against Mountain Valley. That’s a big game for us — they’re a Class B team. We need to come in physically rested and focused, mentally focused.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com.
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