MONMOUTH — The Waynflete Flyers had to do something to alter momentum with 20 minutes to go in their Class C South girls’ soccer semifinal against the top-seeded Monmouth Academy Mustangs.
A formation change was an order and things started to go their way as they put pressure on the Mustangs’ defense. Junior midfielder Lydia Giguere played the role of hero by scoring twice in the 2-1 overtime victory.
“Once we got the first one, we knew we could get that second one,” Waynflete coach Todd Dominski said. “It seemed like we grabbed a good amount momentum with that first goal. It took forever to get it; it took formation changes and all sorts of stuff, throwing numbers to get there.”
Dominski moved a midfielder forward and moved a defender into the midfield.
Saturday’s semifinal was a rematch of last season’s regional championship in which the Flyers won 3-2, also in extra time.
Monmouth’ coach Gary Trafton knew Saturday’s contest was no ordinary No. 1-vs.-No.5 tilt.
“If anybody reads the paper and knows anything about soccer, they know this isn’t an one-five,” Trafton said. “They are very good and they play in a different league than we do. Numbers don’t mean anything when you are playing Sacopee or Waynflete. They are always very good. We knew what to expect.”
Giguere’s first goal of the game came with 9:51 left to play in the game. Elisabeth Lualdi volleyed a ball into the box where Giguere went up in the air and headed it into the goal to tie the game up at 1-1.
“The ball was out on the wing with Elisabeth Lualdi and she beat a defender, she managed to get her head up,” Lydia Giguere said. “She was able to find my head and, yeah, I did intend it to go into the direction of the goal. I was luckily enough because the goalie had taken a step towards the other direction, because I don’t think she noticed I was there. I had the perfect lane.”
The Flyers (10-4-2) weren’t playing for overtime as they continued to push forward, but didn’t have any significant scoring chances for the remainder in the half.
The first overtime was a different story as they controlled the play for most of the extra session. Giguere was the most dominate player on the field after she scored the tying goal. She had two chances early in the overtime. The first opportunity she booted the ball right over the crossbar from half-field. Shortly thereafter, she just missed the far post.
He third chance was the lucky charm. On a corner kick, Isabel Canning sent the ball in, and it deflected off body parts. Giguere settled the ball down and put home the golden goal midway through the first overtime.
“I saw it hit off a couple of people, and it kind of bounced out to me,” Giguere said. “One of our players was also there, but her back was to the goal, so I called her off it. And we practice those types of shots in practice. I had confidence and I knew if I hit it in this one spot it could go in.”
Monmouth (14-2) had a strong start to the game. The Fletcher sisters put the Mustangs up 14 minutes into the game when Audrey Fletcher found older sister Haley for a goal.
“The last thing I can say is I am proud how the girls played this year,” Trafton said. “No one expected us to be here because we lost six starters, and then everybody came along and did quite well. Everybody worked hard to get where we were.”
Mustangs nearly extended the lead right before half as the ball looked like it was going to go in just under the crossbar, but Waynflete goalie Ali Pope knocked it out of play. On the following corner, Pope made another key stop to keep the deficit at one goal at halftime.
“We are always confident Ali is going to make good saves back there,” Dominski said. “We’ve seen all season how well she’s played in the back. She trains really hard and does a good job. Even in the first half on the free kick, the girl hit and she punched out; some keepers are going to let that ball in. We knew she was going to do the right thing with it. She didn’t try to catch it because of the wet conditions. She has trained really hard to put herself in this position.”
nfournier@sunjournal.com
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