WALES— Lilly Nadeau was a star of Friday’s girls soccer game between Oak Hill and Carrabec.
Carrabec’s Riley Crocker holds her right cleat which gave out early in Friday’s game against Oak Hill. Nathan Fournier/Sun Journal
The senior scored a hat trick in the Raiders’ 8-1 victory over the Cobras but also showed standout sportsmanship early in the game by offering an extra pair of cleats to a Carrabec player.
Carrabec (0-10) entered the contest with only 10 players, one short of a full on-field squad of 11. Five minutes into the game, the Cobras were potentially going to be down another player when the bottom of Riley Crocker’s right cleat started to fall apart.
“I needed to get them taped or I needed a new pair,” Crocker said.
Crocker said that she knew the cleats were in rough shape, but she hoped to get through the Oak Hill game with them.
Carrabec coach Heidi Day said that she didn’t want the Cobras to keep playing Friday’s game if they were only going to have nine players.
“I thought we would be down another player,” Day said. “(Oak Hill) stepped right up, and (Nadeau) heard (Crocker) and stepped right up — it was really good sportsmanship.”
When she found out that, like her, Crocker wears size 8 cleats, Nadeau told Crocker that she had an extra pair of shoes Crocker could use.
Nadeau’s offer surprised Crocker.
“I thought I was going to play with taped cleats,” Crocker said.
Nadeau knew the bind the Cobras’ were facing.
“They had to play; they needed the players,” Nadeau said. “I had an extra pair — there’s no reason not to (offer the cleats).”
Raiders (2-6) coach Jeremy Young said that type of sportsmanship is common for Oak Hill players.
“I have always been proud of our team for being good sports,” Young said. “Helping other teams out, when a (player) is down, calling for a sub or helping one of the players of the other team. This was certainly a weirder situation, but in line with all of those things.”
Crocker ran to the Oak Hill sidelines, with the Raiders bench players helped Crocker find the extra pair of cleats.
Since Crocker ran off the field, she couldn’t run right back on after she had put on the Nadeau’s shoes. She had to wait to get checked into the game, like a substitute. Young did his best to make sure Crocker got back into the game quickly.
“We had consecutive throw-ins, so when (Crocker) was ready to get back on the field, I put in a sub that we didn’t need, just so (the referees) got her on as quickly as possible,” Young said.
RAIDERS RAID
The Raiders seized control early in Friday’s game. Eliana Smith scored in the second minute on a low shot that got past Carrabec goalie Lilianna Cooley (25 saves).
Smith scored another goal in the 13th minute to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead.
Nadeau scored her first two goals in the 17th and 18th minutes to push the lead to 4-0.
Nadeau said the Raiders’ goal for Friday’s game was to work on their passing.
“It wasn’t that important, I had the open shots and I took them, but that wasn’t the main goal,” Nadeau said. “We wanted to pass a lot but pretty much have a good game.”
Anna Canales put the Cobras on the scoreboard when her shot beat Oak Hill goalie MacKenzie Vattaso (five saves) midway through the first half.
It was only the fifth goal of the season for Carrabec.
“This far in the season, (scoring) just keeps them pushing that much further,” Day said.
Shortly after Canales’ goal, Aubrey McElhaney scored for Oak Hill off a corner kick for a 5-1 lead.
In the second half, Kendall Theriault scored in the 18-yard box, and Peyton Gonyea added a goal to extend the lead to 7-1. Nadeau capped the scoring with her third goal with two minutes remaining in the game.
Young said that Theriault also had a good game passing the ball.
“Kendall Theriault had three assists before scoring a goal,” Young said. “It’s definitely the vision you want to see from a center-midfielder. It was really a good team effort overall.”
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