HAMPDEN — The Orono High School girls’ soccer team won its first state championship a year ago, and senior goalie Katelyn Richards said they had an intense desire to repeat Saturday to “prove it wasn’t a one-time thing.”
The Red Riots did just that.
Richards turned in a superb six-save performance to help Orono beat Waynflete of Portland 2-0 in the Class C state championship game at Hampden Academy.
Seniors Brinsley Chasse and Lizzie White controlled the midfield with their tenacity, quickness and skill while also teaming up for a goal, and dynamic senior striker Becky Lopez-Anido scored the first goal for coach Cid Dyjak’s Red Riots.
“We wanted to prove it wasn’t a fluke. We deserved it and coach deserved it,” said Richards.
White fed Lopez-Anido to give the Red Riots a 1-0 lead with 16:33 left in the first half. Then, only 1:50 into the second half, White ran onto a Chasse corner and poked it home.
It was the third straight year the two schools had met in the state title game, with each having posted a 3-2 double-overtime win.
On Saturday, the Red Riots (14-1-1) took control of the game in the first half with Chasse and White winning virtually every 50-50 ball in the middle of the field and triggering the attack while also stunting Waynflete’s offensive thrusts. Chasse and White also led Orono’s domination in the air.
“They had some good players and they went to the ball hard. They won balls in the air,” said Waynflete coach Todd Dominski. “They’re a heck of a team.”
“I think was the best game we played all season,” said Chasse. “We put everything together. We worked hard as a team. I couldn’t be happier and more proud of the girls.”
“I’m just ecstatic,” said Dyjak. “My players worked real hard. We have a great group of seniors and leaders.”
The speedy Lopez-Anido opened the scoring after White intercepted a Waynflete clearing attempt and threaded a precise through-ball that Lopez-Anido ran on to just outside the penalty area.
“We’ve been working on finding gaps in practice and Lizzie gave me a nice, crisp pass. I just put it into the corner,” said Lopez-Anido, who broke in down the right side and neatly tucked her low shot inside the far post past goalie Ali Pope, who had no chance.
Pope made five saves.
White expanded that lead early in the second half as she converted Chasse’s well-placed corner from 8 yards out.
“We’ve worked a lot on one-timing Brinsley’s corners. I wasn’t marked and I knocked it in with my knee,” said White.
“I always look for Lizzie on corners. She gets after the ball,” said Chasse, who noted that the two combined for a goal off a corner in last year’s state final.
Waynflete (11-5-2) nearly answered four minutes later when Isabel Canning’s corner landed on the foot of Sophi Aronson at the far post, but the fearless Richards smothered the point-blank attempt.
“I saw her open before the ball reached her. I saw it come off her foot so I reacted and smothered it,” said Richards.
She made four more saves in the half, including a gem off Canning’s 18-yard drive labeled for the top near post corner as she punched it around the post with 10 minutes left.
“(Richards) had a stellar game,” said Canning.
Just seconds before that save, sophomore left back Brooklynne White came to Richards’ aid by calmly clearing the ball off the goal line after Richards collided with Waynflete’s Ava Farrar and Farrar’s header appeared to be going in the net.
“I wanted to get that so bad,” said White.
“She always has my back,” grinned Richards.
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