OLD TOWN, Maine — It certainly had the feel and intensity of a playoff game on Wednesday night when Class B North schoolgirl soccer contenders Old Town and Ellsworth squared off at Victory Field.
The host Coyotes erased a pair of one-goal deficits and earned a 2-2 overtime tie with the Eagles, who had their nine-game winning streak snapped but extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games.
Ellsworth is now 9-1-1 on the season while Old Town is 6-2-2 and moved its unbeaten streak to five games (3-0-2). Ellsworth won an earlier meeting, 2-0 in Ellsworth on Sept. 15.
Ellsworth sophomore striker Lizzie Boles scored her 17th and 18th goals of the season while Old Town received goals from sophomore midfielder Karina Dumond and junior midfielder Rhiannon Bousquet.
Old Town senior Danica Brown made seven saves on 17 Ellsworth shot attempts while Ellsworth junior Jayden Sullivan finished with four saves on 14 shots.
It was an entertaining affair which saw Ellsworth emerge with a slight edge in possession as well as time spent in the attacking third.
“We knew it would be a tough game,” said Ellsworth coach Eric Terrill. “They’re a very similar team to us. They’re athletic, they move the ball fairly quickly, they have good speed up top and they’re really good, defensively.
“Danica Brown is definitely a college-level goalkeeper,” he added. “We made some mistakes tonight but they pressured us into mistakes.”
“It’s always a battle when we play Ellsworth in any sport,” said goalkeeper Brown. “It’s always pretty intense.”
Boles opened the scoring just 1:52 into the game but it took Dumond just 40 seconds to draw the Coyotes level.
Boles made it 2-1 with 13:57 remaining in the first half but Bousquet answered with 31:01 left in the second half.
“We played solid,” said Boles. “We didn’t play as well as we’re capable of or as well as we’ve been playing recently. But we left everything we had out there.
“It’s frustrating. It should have been our game. Neither of their goals should have happened and we had so many opportunities but we fell short [on converting them]. But it’s better than a loss,” Boles added.
Boles’ goals came off nice individual efforts.
Layne Ray assisted on her first one as she slipped her a pass just outside the penalty area.
“I turned, had three defenders around me and was able to dribble to the top of the 18 (penalty area) and pushed it into the bottom corner,” said Boles, who hit the shot with the outside of her right foot and saw it tuck inside the far post to Brown’s left.
Dumond tied it when Olivia Lizzotte gave her a beautiful through ball down the right flank, she burst into the penalty area and ripped a rising 14-yard shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
Boles restored the lead off a pass from Kelsie Lambert.
“I fought my way through a couple of girls and placed it into the far corner,” said Boles, who was a constant threat with her strength, quickness and accurate shot.
Bousquet tied it off a Lizzotte corner kick that glanced to her off an Eagle defender, who tried to volley it out of danger.
“It went high in the air and dropped perfectly to my foot and I put it in the back of the net,” said Bousquet, who was in the middle of the penalty area and calmly slotted her shot past the right of Sullivan.
Boles had a good chance to break the tie later in the half.
Dynamic Miah Coffin took a powerful shot from 22 yards out that went off Brown’s hands and glanced across the goalmouth to the unsuspecting Boles, who dragged her shot wide of the near post.
“I really wish I had put that in,” said Boles. “I didn’t know what was going on. It (the rebound) caught me by surprise.”
Old Town coach Eric Damboise said his team has historically been a “second-half team.
“We kind of lost that during the midseason but we’ve started to get it back. We really wanted the win. Unfortunately, we got the tie but it was better than a loss,” he said while also noting that it will provide both teams with some valuable points in the Heal Points standings.
The game featured an intriguing battle between a pair of highly-skilled, tenacious and speedy juniors: Ellsworth right wing Coffin and Old Town left back Allyson Caron.
It turned out to be a stalemate as each won a handful of the one-on-one duels.
Each team had a minor injury in the second half as Old Town sophomore Taylor Madden (nose) and Ellsworth junior Emily King (jaw) were forced to leave the game and didn’t return. Both remained on their respective benches.
Ellsworth will be back in action on Friday as Ellsworth hosts Presque Isle at 4:30 while Old Town plays next on Monday when it visits Presque Isle for an 11 a.m. contest.