TOPSHAM — Eli St. Laurent left it all on the field and let nothing get by him.
The Edward Little goalie got injured in the first half when his right ankle popped and returned in the second half to help lead the Red Eddies to a 1-0 victory against Mt. Ararat on Tuesday in a Class A North boys soccer quarterfinal.
In all, St. Laurent stopped seven shots.
“It was my senior year and I didn’t want to go down in my senior year on the bench,” St. Laurent said. “If we went down, I didn’t want to be on the bench, I wanted to be on the field. I knew no matter what pain I was in, I was going to go back in.”
Fifth-seeded Edward Little (11-4) will play top-seeded Lewiston (12-2-1) at 5 p.m. Friday at Lewiston High School’s Don Roux Field in the regional semifinals.
Edward Little and Mt. Ararat met last Wednesday in Topsham, but the game was suspended 2-2 after regulation when school officials got word of the mass shooting in Lewiston. Per Maine Principals’ Association rules, since the game was suspended it had to be replayed in its entirety.
Mt. Ararat coach Jack Rioux said it was odd to prepare for the same team for a second go-around in the playoffs.
“It was definitely strange, and hopefully it’s something I don’t have to do again,” Rioux said. “It was strange; the preparation was different — there are more important things than soccer, and that was shown (this past week). It was a battle with them tonight.”
Edward Little coach Max Thompson said both teams gave it their all for two full games.
“We just played 160 minutes of in-our-face, that’s as much as we can handle,” Thompson said. “They gave everything they had, and we were able to take advantage of an opportunity. Either one of those games could have gone either way. We feel good about the result; we feel fortunate, but we are moving on.”
Fourth-seeded Mt. Ararat (9-5-1) had control of possession early in the first half and Ethan Palmer had the Eagles’ first scoring chance, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.
The Eagles had a cross in the seventh minute in which two players had an opportunity in the box to put the ball in off a deflection, but neither could seal the deal. Nearly 10 minutes later, St. Laurent lost control of the ball during a diving save, but Mt. Ararat couldn’t capitalize.
Despite the chances, Thompson said the Red Eddies defended well after making some adjustments from last Wednesday’s contest by adding sophomore Cam Roy into the starting lineup.
“Once we realized they were going to play long and take advantage of their pace, we changed things a little bit out back trying to give us ourselves the ability to win the ball out of the air,” Thompson said. “We put Cam in, who’s great out of the air, and he has a little bit more pace.”
St. Laurent left the match in the 24th minute when he got injured while making a save. Logan Martin (two saves) replaced him, but St. Laurent returned in the second half.
“I came out for a ball that was halfway and one of my teammates passed it to me. So I couldn’t play with my hands,” St. Laurent said. “I slid in with my feet and the kid hit it at the same time and I felt my ankle popped. It was painful, but it was good to be back in there.”
After Dayow Daud got knocked down in the 34th minute of the first half, he couldn’t put home an indirect kick. However, Ngengele Adolphe’s line-drive shot a minute later beat Eagles goalie Jacob Fullerton for a 1-0 advantage.
“I knew that spot was going to be my chance,” Adolphe said. “When I got the ball, I just shot it.”
Daud later got stopped on a 39-yard free kick after Fullerton made a diving stop at the near post.
In the eighth minute of the second half, St. Laurent punched a ball out of harm’s way.
Mt. Ararat started to get frustrated with the lack of calls going its way early in the second half. Daud knocked down a player and the Eagles wanted a card handed out. Mt. Ararat appeared to score off a throw-in after the Eagles put the ball in the net in a crowded box, but the officials waived the goal off.
Both St. Laurent and Rioux said the explanation for the no-goal is the ball went off an official.
“That’s the explanation that I got,” Rioux said. “Going by the rule, that’s (what the call is), I didn’t see it. It is what it is, but it’s not the reason we lost that game at all. They made one more play than we did.”
The Eagles won the corner kick battle throughout the contest. They got two in a row in the 17th minute of the second half, allowing them to keep possession in the offensive zone. St. Laurent made a diving save with his left hand, keeping the game 1-0 for the Red Eddies.
“We had the majority of the play, had corner kicks, throw-ins, which has been our bread-and-butter all season,” Rioux said. “We couldn’t find a way to put it in the back of the net.”
Mt. Ararat sent a cross to an open Aaron Paul in the 23rd minute of the second half, but he didn’t have total control when he shot the ball wide of the net.
St. Laurent had another diving save, this time to his right, on Ben Chunko in the 24th minute. Chunko had another opportunity a minute later, but St. Laurent had a point-blank save.
“Eli was phenomenal,” Rioux said. “He robbed us last year in the playoffs when we played them and he robbed us in the first game. He robbed us again tonight. He’s a phenomenal player. I hope he’s healthy for the rest of their playoff run.”
With about 10 minutes to play, St. Laurent punched the ball over the crossbar.
St. Laurent will get rest for the next two days to prepare for Lewiston.
“I will be in the net,” St. Laurent said.
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