LEWISTON — Skowhegan’s Arabel Linkletter got a second chance and took advantage of it.
After getting stopped on a breakaway in the first half, Linkletter scored on another breakaway in the second to break a scoreless deadlock in Skowhegan’s 1-0 KVAC girls soccer victory against Lewiston on Wednesday.
“I knew I had to keep trying, and eventually they would fall,” Linletter said.
Linkletter’s goal came eight minutes into the second half when Maddy Morris fed her a pass. Linkletter chipped the ball past Lewiston goalie Jersey Cunningham (nine saves).
“I knew I was open and my teammates were going to be there to back me up, because I trust all of them,” Linkletter said. “I took a shot and I knew they would have my back.”
River Hawks coach Mike Herrick was glad Skowhegan finally broke through after many chances in the opening half.
“In the first half, we were doing a lot of good things, and we found so many ways to almost score a goal, but not quite,” Herrick said. “It was just getting a lucky break to finally see it cross the line. That kind of summarized a lot of games that we lost, where we couldn’t put one in and the next thing we are down one or two.”
The Blue Devils (0-10-2) had a scoring opportunity a minute before Linkletter’s goal when Maddie Albert’s boot sailed over Skowhegan’s goal and hit the crossbar of the field goal post.
Missed opportunities have plagued the Blue Devils this season.
“It’s a tough game like this, especially on senior night,” Lewiston coach Kevin Albert said. “They want to get a win in a tough season. They improved a lot, but we can’t seem to capitalize on those chances that we do get. We get very few and far between — you have to make them count when you get them.
“It was a really great effort and it was a great effort from everybody all the way through (the lineup).”
McKaela McLaughlin almost put the River Hawks (3-7-2) up 2-0 in the 14th minute of the second half, but Cunningham caught the ball in the air.
Lewiston’s best chance in the second half came in the 36th minute when Makenna Drouin got a good run to get away from Skowhegan’s defense, but Drouin’s shot went wide of the net.
CLOSE CALLS
The River Hawks had many chances in the first half to get on the scoreboard first. Linkletter separated herself from the Lewiston defense in the 11th minute to create a partial breakaway, but her shot in the 18-yard box went wide of the goal.
A minute later, Skowhegan had three players try to direct the ball into the goal with a partially open net, but none of the attempts made it in.
After Skowhegan goalie Natalie Cooke (three saves) stopped a point-blank Josie Gagnier shot, the River Hawks went on the offensive, but Cunningham stopped an Allie Frey line-drive kick from 20 yards out in the 18th minute.
“She made a good save; it was a good shot,” Kevin Albert said of Gagnier’s attempt. “We had some good pressure, actually. We beat the defender on a dribble, and we were able to get it off to a wing. (Gagnier) had a nice shot — it was point-blank. It’s kind of the way things go for us, and unfortunately, we don’t seem to get those bounces — the balls don’t find the holes. ”
Annabelle Morris hit the crossbar on another Skowhegan scoring opportunity in the 24th minute.
Herrick credited the River Hawks players for not getting frustrated by the missed chances in the first half.
“For us, it was not to lose that energy of what we were doing and putting across that line,” Herrick said.
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