BUCKFIELD — Buckfield senior Brittany Carrier said her teammates were “Buckfield tough” in Thursday’s 5-1 girls soccer victory over Richmond.
“‘Buckfield tough’ is when we play together, and when we go hard to the ball, and we use what we learn in practice to go out on the field and execute it,” Carrier said.
Carrier had two goals for the Bucks (5-1) in a key Class D South matchup. Coming into the game, Richmond (3-2) was No. 1 in the Heal Points, while Buckfield was No. 3.
Buckfield coach Larry Thornton said the Bucks did a good job of finishing their scoring opportunities.
“They finished opportunities when they were presented early on,” Thornton said. “That was the big difference. We scored four goals in the first half because they finished off those opportunities. The one really good one in the second half was finished.”
The Bobcats couldn’t climb out of the early deficit.
“We just came out a little flat,” Richmond coach Troy Kendrick said. “Obviously, we put ourselves in a hole and we couldn’t dig ourselves out. I was happy with the way the kids didn’t quit in the second half.”
Mya Austin opened the scoring roughly eight minutes into the first half to give the Bucks a 1-0 lead.
It was Austin’s first goal of the season.
“It was a nice shot; she has been working on it all season,” Thornton said. “I think it was her first goal of the season and good on her for finally breaking through.”
Carrier notched her first goal of the game when her shot just went inside the right post for a 2-0 lead for Buckfield.
“It was inside the 18, and I don’t know if it was a cross, but I stepped up and finished it,” Carrier said.
Midway through the first half, Chloee Bennett fired a shot past Richmond goalie Autumn Lane (three saves), stretching the lead to 3-0.
Richmond executed a corner a couple of minutes later when Lila Viselli curled the ball into the goal past Buckfield goalie Kianna Finnegan (12 saves).
The goal sparked the Bobcats.
“I liked the way we played; we created a bunch of chances,” Kendrick said. “We just couldn’t finish them off. We have to tighten it up in the back, too. We are normally a pretty good defensive team. We were all surprised we coughed up three or four early.”
Carrier scored her second goal when she broke away from Richmond’s defense in the offensive zone. She kept the shot low and past Lane for a 4-1 lead in the 36th minute.
“It was set up really nicely and it was a perfect pass,” Carrier said.
Alexa Kelsey had the Bobcats’ first scoring chance in the second half when she had a breakaway, but her shot went right to Finnegan in the 17th minute.
Ella Briand took a through ball into the 18-yard box shortly after, but the shot went wide of the net.
“Man, we created (chances) in the second half,” Kendrick said. “We couldn’t finish and find the back of the net. We gave up some cheapies, but hats off to Buckfield — they certainly came ready to play today. They played hard and outhustled us and outplayed us today.”
Emily Tilton extended Buckfield’s lead to 5-1 with a long-distance free kick in the 23rd minute.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
