GRAY — One minute was the difference in an 80-minute battle between Gray-New Gloucester and York on Saturday afternoon.
Maddie Amidon scored two goals 57 seconds apart midway through the first half, and then she added the nail in the coffin late in the second in a 3-0 WMC girls’ soccer victory for the Wildcats at Myles Burbank Memorial Field.
“Up until the first goal, I felt that we had defended really, really well, and really executed well on what we were trying to do defensively,” Gray-NG (4-3) coach Kiaran McCormack said. “(Amidon), she’s a good player, got the ball at the edge of the box and just turned out of pressure and shot a nice shot low.”
Amidon’s shot, the first on target for the Wildcats (4-1-2) in the game, eluded Patriots goalie Chelsea Davis 14 minutes in.
While she was looking for a goal on that shot, she was just looking to make a pass on a cross from the left corner in the next minute. But that, too, found its way in, bouncing off a defender and Davis despite coming from an impossible angle to score.
“When I take the crosses I normally try and look to see where people are, and then decide if I should place it on the ground or at their head,” Amidon, a senior said. “That time I tried to place it at someone’s head, but it went in.”
Just like that, 15 minutes into the game, York had what amounted to an insurmountable lead.
“That (first goal) was tough,” McCormack said. “And then just for them to come back and score so quickly afterwards kind of deflated us a little bit. I think if it had been 1-0 going into half, we might have had a little bit more renewed energy to go out and get that equalizer goal.
“But against a team like York, who just possesses, it makes you run a lot. It’s hard, it’s work. The girls were just kind of hanging on towards the end of the first half.”
The Patriots had just one shot on goal in the first half. As the second half wore on, they began to put a few tries on frame, but York goalie Anna Baker stopped them all.
“When you feel like you have an opportunity to score, you suddenly find that second burst of energy,” McCormack said. “We had some half-chances, which kind of give the girls some initiative, and the crowd, who are always great, got behind us a little bit. There was a couple of things that maybe if the ball had bounced our way, or got a lucky call, we might have got a goal.”
The ball didn’t bounce the Patriots’ way. It did, however, bounce to Amidon one last time. Two Gray-NG defenders made saves with Davis out of position with two minutes to go. The ball stayed in the box and made its way to Amidon, and she put it where there was no defender.
“I kind of had to watch the ball. It was bouncing all over the place. I just happened to be the one there to put it in,” Amidon said. “It felt good to secure our win. Because 2-1, if they get a goal it’s only one point away.”
The Patriots couldn’t earn a win for their homecoming crowd, but McCormack said he was happy with his players’ effort.
“They really left it out on the field, and that’s the most important thing,” McCormack said.
“I really don’t have anything to complain about. We were beaten by a good team. We’ll just move forward to Fryeburg.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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