AUBURN — Edward Little boys’ soccer coach Tim Mains paced around the bench tapping the head or shoulder or shaking the hand of just about every Red Eddies player.
He lingered on the sideline until nearly everyone had left before slowly taking the long walk to the parking lot.
Special seasons aren’t supposed to end this way.
But Edward Little’s run came to an end Saturday afternoon with a 2-1 overtime loss to Camden Hills in the Class A North semifinals.
“I’m bummed, man,” Mains said. “I told them, you know, the fact that we won a KVAC championship and we were the one-seed, it doesn’t make right now hurt any less, but coming into the year, no one had us up there, no one thought we were going to win games. So even though it’s hurting right now, there’s a lot to be proud of, and these guys accomplished a lot more than anyone thought they were capable of.”
Camden Hills’ Josiah Krul ended the Red Eddies’ season when his kick from the left side squirted past goalkeeper Owen Mower and slowly rolled across the goal line.
“I got the ball on the sideline, and all I knew was I wanted to put it in, I wanted to end the game,” Krul said. “I got a little space in the middle, I just let it fly, and it somehow snuck its way in.”
Camden coach Ryan Hurley said the last two goals of the game were tough for the goalies to stop due to the muddy field and wet ball.
“It’s definitely a tough way for it to end,” Mains said. “As good of a senior season as Owen’s had, I feel for him more than anything. He’s hard on himself, and that’s a ball he saves 99 times out of 100, and it’s a shame to have a season end that way, especially for him.”
The game made it to overtime because EL’s Alex Thompson drilled a shot from about 25 yards away that made it past Camden goalie Lucas Boetsch with 13:40 remaining in the second half.
The goal was set up, in part, by Red Eddies switching to a 3-4-3 that moved Thompson from defense to the midfield.
“We were kind of hoping that he’d have a chance to get up there and maybe get a loose ball, and that’s exactly what happened,” Mains said. “It doesn’t surprised me at all that he finished it; he really can shoot it.”
Thompson’s goal evened things up and put nearly 70 minutes of less-than-stellar play behind the Red Eddies.
“We weren’t as possessive as we’ve been this year,” Mains said, “we tried to play the ball forward and kind of hope the defense made a mistake. They didn’t make that many mistakes, and we weren’t able to possess ball like we normally would have, given a dry field.
Thompson’s goal also re-injected life into Camden Hills. Krul, who scored the first goal with 6:12 remaining in the first half, said the Windjammers were starting to lag after holding a lead for 34 minutes.
“That was a little hit in the chest, for sure,” Krul said. “We were kind of riding on that 1-0 for a little bit, we kind of got a little bit relaxed, but once we got scored on, it’s like we snapped into it place again, and we started playing our game again.”
Camden (11-4-1), the No. 5 seed, advances to face the winner between No. 2 Bangor and No. 3 Mt. Ararat in the A North final this week. Prior to eliminating the Red Eddies, the Windjammers also bounced defending state champion Lewiston.
Edward Little finishes with a 12-3-1 record, having earned an unexpected top seed entering into the A North playoffs. As a former EL soccer player himself, being part of this season’s success was extra satisfying for the Red Eddies’ first-year coach.
“I tell the kids the all the time, I look forward to coming to practice every day, and I look forward to coming to the games,” Mains said. “I think about it when I’m not here. I’ve loved it. I’ve fallen in love with soccer again, and I’ve fallen in love with these kids and this team, and it’s been a lot of fun for me.”
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