Lewiston’s Christine Chasse (11) battles for the ball with Brunswick’s Emily Larochelle (2) during a Class A North girls soccer quarterfinal at Brunswick on Tuesday. The second-seeded Dragons downed No. 7 Lewiston, 6-0. (Bob Conn/Brunswick Times Record)
BRUNSWICK — Brunswick High School girls soccer coach Martyn Davison has seen it before. He has witnessed his Dragons face a team that elects to pack it in on defense, keep the game close, then look for that one break on offense to steal a victory.
On Tuesday in a Class A North quarterfinal on a wet pitch, seventh-seeded Lewiston looked to play defense first.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, No. 2 Brunswick scored just 57 seconds in, added another goal at the six-minute mark and cruised to a 6-0 victory.
The Dragons will be home on Saturday (1 p.m.) for a semifinal against either Oxford Hills or Bangor, while Lewiston’s season came to a close at 3-8-4.
It was Brunswick’s Emily Larochelle that started the day off right for the home side. The junior beat a Lewiston defender and sent a chip just over the hands of Blue Devils freshman goaltender Gemma Landry for a 1-0 lead.
“We just started the game off 1-0, not the way that we wanted to start,” said Lewiston coach Brant Remington of Brunswick’s quick goal. “They put together a string of passes and a beautiful chip on the goal line. What can you do? It was a great start for them.”
Six minutes later, Maeve Arthur, the lone Brunswick senior, finished a pass from Sara Scrapchansky to double the advantage. Arthur’s second with 2:35 left until halftime made for a 3-0 contest.
“If you don’t get that early goal, things are just going to drag on. Even one goal. Getting three goals in the first half made it an easy game,” said Davison after his Dragons improved to 14-1. “Credit to the girls. They came out and started fast. We won the game in the first 15 minutes.”
Earlier this season, Davison changed his strategy with the Dragons.
“I am a defensive coach. I was a defender myself. But, you can’t do that with this team,” said Davison. “We play four up front. Anna (Kousky) and Maeve were linking well, and that is the way to get behind the defense. Lea (Scrapchansky) and Sara are dangerous on the wing. The front four are phenomenal.”
Brunswick’s strong play continued into the second half. Arthur completed her hat trick, then set up Kousky on a clean breakaway for a 5-0 edge. Kousky’s second goal with 20:07 left completed the scoring and sent most of the Dragon starters to the bench.
“They came at us, and their defense pushed up a lot. That gave us opportunities to get some breakaways,” said Kousky after Brunswick outshot Lewiston 10-0 in the opening 40 minutes. “Maeve hit me with some good crosses, and we just played very well and passed on point,” said Kousky. “We came out and really wanted to win. We are excited about the playoffs.”
Four seniors played their final Blue Devil soccer game. However, Remington has a solid group of players set to return next season, including Landry, who made several point-blank saves among her dozen stops.
“We have four seniors that we will need to replace, and we were young going in, so I felt it was going to a rebuilding year after finishing fifth last year,” said Remington. “We had a lot of questions, especially on defense. The future looks bright, a solid core coming back, along with a freshman goalie.”
Brunswick faced Bangor and Oxford Hills once each during the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference season. The Dragons downed the Vikings, 5-0, and edged the Rams, 1-0, on the road.
“Saturday will be difficult,” Davison said. “Bangor will be a tough game. They always get up for us and it will be a battle. And, Oxford Hills has three or four players that are dangerous.”
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