BANGOR – In an epic battle between two highly-skilled and relentless teams, it was two terrific goals by Bangor High School senior midfielder Olivia Scott and an impressive defensive performance that earned the top-seeded Rams a hard-fought 2-1 win over fourth seed Mt. Ararat of Topsham Thursday night at Cameron Stadium in their Class A North semifinal.
Bangor improved to 15-1 and will face the winner of Friday’s other semifinal between second seed Camden Hills, 13-1-1, and third seed Brunswick, 11-4, in Tuesday’s 4 p.m. regional championship game in Lewiston.
The youthful Eagles, who started six sophomores and a freshman, concluded an 11-4-1 season.
It was the 14th time this season that Bangor has held an opponent to one goal or less.
Scott, who will play at the University of Maine in the fall, gave the Rams a 1-0 lead just 6:05 into the game with a 30-yard strike from the middle of the field.
She scored her 14th goal of the season with just 5:04 remaining and the Rams had to survive a goal off a tremendous individual effort from junior striker Elena Willis with 1:30 remaining to punch their ticket to the final.
Bangor junior goalie Eva Coombs finished with seven saves on 11 Mt. Ararat shot attempts while senior Calista Kinney came up with five saves on 12 Bangor shots.
“It was a well-played game by both teams,” said Bangor coach Jay Kemble. “That may have been our best defensive game of the season.”
Scott said the team had struggled at the outset of games recently “and we knew this game had to be different.
“We won just about every 50-50 ball and that was the difference,” Scott added.
Scott opened the scoring by converting a Clara Oldenburg pass from way beyond the penalty area.
“I’ve had success from outside this year a lot and I thought I might as well test the goalkeeper early in the game so I took a shot,” said Scott whose perfectly-placed shot sailed over the head of senior goalkeeper Calista Kinney and tucked under the crossbar.
Neither team had many good scoring chances in the first half as both defenses were stout and the midfielders hustled back to help out.
Coombs did have to make a diving save on a long-range shot by Mt. Ararat sophomore forward Juliana Allen.
Mt. Ararat pressed for an equalizer in the second half but was limited to long-distance shots by the Ram defense. They were also able to clear some Eagle free kicks into the box out of danger.
Bangor junior striker Teagan Atherley nearly extended the lead with 17:50 remaining with a powerful shot from beyond the penalty area but Kinney dove to her right and swatted it away.
With just over five minutes remaining, Scott snared what proved to be the game-winner from just outside the penalty area.
“The ball was bopping around at the top of the box. It came to me so I thought I might as well test the goalie again,” said Scott, who curled her shot inside the post to the right of Kinney.
Bangor seemingly had the game won but the determined Eagles made things interesting at the end as Willis made a long run down the left flank before cutting in and beating Coombs with a shot to the near post.
Bangor was able to keep the ball in the Mt. Ararat end the rest of the way.
“Our defense had a great game,” said Scott. “We knew we were going to have to step up because Mt. Ararat has a fast front line and a few really good midfielders. We knew having a strong game in the back was going to win us the game.”
Bangor’s back line consisted of freshman Jo Jo Clukey, junior J.J. Williams, sophomore Avery Clark and senior Mimi Quinn. Sophomore Gabby Roy came off the bench and gave the Rams some quality minutes in the back with the speedy Clukey missing some chunks of the game with a nagging injury.
She did finish the game.
“Bangor has a good squad. Credit to them,” said Mt. Ararat coach Kevin Flaherty. “But I am so proud of our girls. It was a year of firsts for us.
“We hadn’t won a playoff game in eight years and we won a playoff game (5-0 over Oxford Hills of South Paris). And we hadn’t beaten our rival Brunswick in 10 years and we did that (4-3 in double overtime).,” said Flaherty. “It was a battle of two good teams.”
He said Scott had “two good strikes.”
Junior midfielder Islah Godo, Allen, Willis and defender Jenna Jensen were outstanding for the Eagles.
Atherley and Scott were exceptional in the midfield for Bangor as was senior Ani Roberts.
