Oxford Hills’ Cecelia Dieterich (10) pursues Mt. Blue’s Ace Provencher (37) in a girls’ soccer game in South Paris on Thursday evening. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
PARIS — Oxford Hills girls’ soccer coach Chad Truman was aware his players were worn out from playing the day before and the Mt. Blue Cougars were coming down the road from Farmington hungry for a victory.
Well, the Cougars ended up being a nuisance, particularly in the second half, before the Vikings (7-3-1) got their second wind and dismissed Mt. Blue (2-7-1) with a 3-1 victory on a mild Thursday evening.
“We played yesterday and I knew they were going to be tired today,” Truman said. “I know Fred (Conlogue). We played them earlier in the season and it wasn’t a tight game. It wasn’t that close. So I knew today was going to be a different ball game. He’s a good coach, came out with a good plan and he held us tight.
“The whole bright spot for me was they didn’t quit. They kept working and kept pushing.”
Both teams traded volleys in a back-and-forth first half, with the Vikings finally getting on the scoreboard with a goal at 17:56. Cecelia Dieterich did the honors with help from Cassidy Dumont’s assist to provide the Vikes with a 1-0 lead.
Cougars goalie Mackenzie Libby made 16 saves. Thanks to her and the Mt. Blue defense, Oxford Hills’ 1-0 lead remained that way going into halftime.
“She was phenomenal. She had a great game,” Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue said. “The defense played really well. We didn’t give them dangerous shots, with the exception for the first goal that Cecelia scored. That was a really nice goal.”
Mt. Blue came out at halftime with a solid game plan and threw a scare into Oxford Hills when the Cougars tied the game at 34:25.
Midfielder Emma White took a feed from freshman Eryn Parlin, raced in and drove the ball past goalie Jillian Douglass from about 10 yards out.
The tying goal only heated things up for both teams, but neither side could put the ball in the net for the 15 minutes.
“The girls played an amazing second half,” Conlogue said. “We had a great talk at halftime. We said you had four opportunities to score, and if you don’t finish those opportunities, but create them, they looked like they lost the game halftime.
“We came out at halftime and got the tying goal. We were actually kind of controlling things and they got a fluke to make it 2-1.”
But Oxford Hills kept pressing, and with 20:25 remaining in the game, Gillian Grover, with assistance from Dieterich, scored to give her team a 2-1 edge.
Grover’s goal didn’t slow down the Cougars, whose offense kept its assault on the Vikes’ net, but Mt. Blue just couldn’t put another ball in net.
With 2:15 left in the game, Oxford Hills scored again, with Ella Kellogg punching the ball into the Mt. Blue net — unassisted.
Mt. Blue’s Lexi Mittelstadt (2) stops the ball as Oxford Hills’ Lauren Merrill (2) rushes in during a soccer game in South Paris on Thursday evening. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
Mt. Blue midfielder Hannah Wilbur (13) heads the ball in a soccer game against Oxford Hills in South Paris on Thursday evening. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
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