LEWISTON — Lewiston defenders turned away every Edward Little shot attempt for the first 70-plus minutes of Tuesday’s match.
But, with less than 10 minutes remaining, sophomore forward Layla Facchiano broke the deadlock and then added another goal a few minutes later as the Red Eddies defeated the Blue Devils 2-0 in a girls soccer game at Don Roux Field.
Tuesday’s game wraps up the season for Edward Little (3-10-1) and Lewiston (0-13-1), who will both miss out on the playoffs. But the victory sends the Eddies’ seniors out with a win over their rivals.
“I really wanted to win for my seniors,” Facchiano said.
Facchiano scored with 8:40 remaining after collecting a ball that was loose in the 18-yard box. She scored her second goal with about two minutes left.
“I feel (the second goal) was a little bit easier for me because I had a lot of room,” Facchiano said. “But the touch for my first one was pretty easy too — because all I had to do was tap it in.”
Before Facchiano’s first goal, the match seemed to be playing out like last year’s meeting between the two rivals at Lewiston High School, which was scoreless until Gabby Gerry scored in the final seconds of overtime to give Edward Little a 1-0 victory.
“We took care of business a little bit earlier; we didn’t need the … overtime and waiting to the last second,” Red Eddies coach Miles Bisher said. “That was using every second of the game. In this (game), we were playing with a little bit more pace and energy. Credit to Lewiston, they played with a lot more energy and commitment as a team than the first time we played them earlier this year at EL.”
Edward Little won the teams’ first meeting this season, 3-1, on Sept. 24.
Lewiston coach Jeff Akerley said the Blue Devils played well for the full 80 minutes.
“We struggle with scoring but it’s nice to put together two good halves of soccer together and be competitive all the way through,” Akerley said. “I felt we had as many opportunities to win that game at the end as they did. They wanted it a little bit more than we did, and they put that first goal in.”
Edward Little had the first scoring chance 10 minutes into the game after forward Gabby Gerry’s shot hit the crossbar. The ball bounced in near the goal line, and the Red Eddies had a few opportunities to put the ball in the goal, but Lewiston blocked them.
“That scrum was something; that was out of a comedy routine and it didn’t go in,” Bisher said. “I don’t know how it didn’t go in, but the longer you wait, the sweeter it is.”
The Red Eddies put seven shots on goal in the first half.
Akerley said Lewiston doesn’t have the same amount of depth as Edward Little, and that made playing defense increasingly difficult as the game wore on.
“You can only hold on defensively for so long if you can’t yourself put the ball in the net,” Akerley said. “When we can’t put the ball in the net, it makes it challenging for our defense. You can only fend off teams for so long.”
Lewiston had two shots on goal in the opening half and had one corner that rolled out of the 18-yard box.
Edward Little had a corner early in the second half, but Lewiston goalie Jersey Cunningham (nine saves) made a diving save on a shot attempt.
Shortly after, Red Eddies’ goalie, Izzy Jalbert (four saves), stopped a long-distance shot from Lewiston.
“I felt like we had some opportunities to score for sure,” Akerley said. “… We have a couple of girls who do have a shot when you give them that opportunity. It just didn’t go in for us.”
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