TOPSHAM — Mt. Ararat’s Ema Hawkes scored three goals, including a late second half strike to seal a 4-2 victory over Skowhegan in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A girls soccer game Friday.
It took only 30 seconds for the Eagles to get on the scoreboard when Hawkes scored a quick goal.
“We wanted to come out and score as quick as we could,” Mt. Ararat coach Chad Kirk said. “It was great to see them working hard in the first half.”
Four minutes later, Eliza Libby struck again for the home team, giving the Eagles a 2-0 advantage when she headed the ball past Skowhegan keeper Amber Merry.
At the 35:47 mark, Skowhegan’s Sydney Ames blasted a loose ball in front of Mt. Ararat goalie Abby Sirois to the back of the net to get one back.
Hawkes and company responded, winning the ball at midfield with strong play by Heather Gallant. The ball was then sent to the right side of the field, where Hawkes once again scored to make it a 3-1 game.
“It’s nice to see us respond when we got scored on to make it 2-1,” Kirk said. “We dominated the first half, keeping possession of the ball in the first 40 minutes.”
“We gave them too much slack in the first half,” Skowhegan coach Mike Herrick added. “We made too many mistakes early and it hurt us.”
With less than 10 minutes remaining in the half, Ames again was able to pick up a loose ball in front and put it in the net. The score remained 3-2 into the break, despite Skowhegan holding a slight edge in shots, 7-5.
“I didn’t say too much to them when we fell behind by two goals again. I wanted to see how they would respond,” Herrick said.
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