MONMOUTH — Monmouth’s first shot on Monday afternoon came 23 seconds into the game. It was turned away, but there were many more opportunities to come.
The Mustangs ended up with 28 shots overall. Sophomore Haley Fletcher scored on four of them, and Monmouth posted a 7-0 Mountain Valley Conference girls soccer victory over Carrabec.
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“When we had good shots, we had good, quality shots,” Monmouth coach Gary Trafton said. “It wasn’t a lot of easy shots to the goalie so they could make the save. Anybody can say you’ve got 50 shots, but how many quality shots do you get out of it?”
Monmouth came in to the game at 9-0-1, while Carrabec was 4-6. But the Cobras were coming off a 1-0 loss to Lisbon, the team that tied Monmouth earlier this season.
“We knew in the past that Carrabec was always a hard match so we were all in game mode,” said Monmouth center halfback Madison Bumann. “We knew that we had to come out really strong to get a good start.”
That focus led to numerous opportunities early. Two minutes into the game, Sammy Grandahl dinged a shot off the crossbar, and Sydney Wilson headed the rebound over the net. But just 4:51 into the first half, Wilson scored off a corner kick.
“We’ve always had a high number of shots taken on goal,” Bumann said. “We’re always sure that one will go in eventually, if you keep pounding at the net.”
Fletcher notched her first goal with 27:01 to go in the half when she converted a pass from Caroline Bonenfant that bounced off a Carrabec defender in the box.
Grandahl made it 3-0 at 21:21, and Wilson later took advantage of Fletcher’s nice lead pass to make it 4-0. With under a minute to go in the half, Fletcher booted a turnaround shot inside the top left corner of the net.
Still, Trafton was looking for ways the Mustangs could get stronger. In particular, he thought Monmouth’s touches were much better in the second half than in the first.
“I have a little (recorder) and I talk into it all the time,” Trafton said. “Always looking to improve. We’re trying to look farther down the road, for the playoffs. We know we’re going to be in the playoffs. We just want to try to get a high seed, and be here and play.”
Carrabec coach Silas Bell declined an interview request after the game.
Fletcher scored her third and fourth goals in a 70-second span in the second half. Carrabec’s best chance for a goal came midway through the first half, but freshman Hannah Anderson booted away a shot by Carrabec’s Samantha Lebeau that was headed inside the right post.
“I think our defense is really strong this year,” Bumann said. “As my coach said previously, we’re not just a one-dimensional team. We also have really good scorers, and more than one.”
The top 13 teams in Western C make the playoffs, and Carrabec was 15th on Monday evening. The Cobras have chances to get the points they need, as they play Mt. Abram (4-5-1) twice before concluding the season at home against 9-2 St. Dominic.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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