You have to go back to October 2018 to find the last time the Hermon High School girls soccer team lost a game to a regional opponent.
Third seed Winslow upset second seed Hermon 3-0 in the Class B North semifinals.
Since that time, the Hawks have won 52 consecutive games against North opponents, including playoff games. Their only two losses in that span came against Class B South winner Cape Elizabeth in state championship games, falling 3-0 to Cape last fall and 4-0 in 2019.
The 52-game streak includes a 10-0 record in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic when Hermon only faced opponents in eastern Maine and there were no playoff games.
Hermon faced its toughest test yet on Thursday night, rallying from a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat previously undefeated Old Town 3-1 on the road. Hermon improved to 8-0 on the season entering a Friday game at Mount Desert Island.
“Some of our wins have been lopsided and others have been like this one where you have to fight for everything you get,” said head coach M.J. Ball. “It’s all about the players. They work so hard. And our senior class is very, very strong.”
Senior striker Lyndsee Reed scored her 20th and 21st goals of the season against Old Town to push her career total to 85.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Reed said of the winning streak. “We have to refresh every season with a new team and new competition. It’s a good accomplishment.”
Senior center back Ally Coxson called the Hawks a close-knit team, citing that she, Allie Cameron and Michaela Saulter have played travel soccer together for years.
“We’ve been playing together since we were really little and we’re all very close to each other,” Cameron said. “Staying together is the key.”
Many of the players have played in Ball’s River City Athletics soccer club program.
The Hawks graduated 12 seniors off last year’s team, “but we reloaded with a lot of freshmen and by reloading, we come back stronger and stronger every year,” Cameron said.
One of the players who graduated was two-time All-American striker Sydney Gallop, who scored a school-record 112 career goals.
The Hawks have eight seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen on the roster.
In addition to Reed, Saulter, Coxson and Cameron, the other senior starter is midfielder Megan Dorr. Seniors who come off the bench include striker Olivia Foley and midfielders Ashley Cote and Jaylin Hills.
Cameron said they don’t really talk about the streak but she knows how special it is.
“It’s awesome. I’m really proud of us. I just want to keep going forward and the goal is to get back to states. And we’re very capable of that,” she said.
