AUBURN — The Edward Little girls soccer team was leading Mt. Blue by two goals, but that was hardly a comfort to coach Miles Bisher during a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A game Friday.
And when Mt. Blue (1-5-1) scored in the second half, the Cougars’ intensity sure didn’t ease Bisher’s anxiety, but Edward Little still held on for a 2-1 victory. It was the Eddies’ (1-4-2) first win of the season.
“We have a problem sort of responding when we get scored on,” Bisher said. “I think that was really the turning point for them when they started getting some energy.
“Two-nothing is a super-dangerous lead in soccer, the most dangerous one there is because the team is winning, gets a lot of confidence, a little overconfident … and in that 30 seconds they came down here and we were a little flat. We have had a problem all year responding when we get scored on in any situation. To make that a one-goal game, it was like for the girls, ‘here we go again,’ and then we rolled back on our heels. It was good that we held there. That was a big step for us.”
The EL tandem of junior forward Lydia Celani and senior midfielder Grace Fontaine put together the two goals needed to stave off the Cougars, especially in the second half.
The Red Eddies dominated the first half and that’s when Celani saw an opportunity to score her first of two goals at the 32:10 mark. Fontaine was credited with her first of two assists.
“Grace and Lydia were awesome,” Bisher said. “They connected on two goals. We’ve been struggling to finish the whole season, and to get some goals right at the goal mouth, that was important to us.”
Celani booted her second goal off a Fontaine assist to push the lead to 2-0.
Mt. Blue stepped it up, scoring 30 seconds later to pull within a goal. Senior forward Ace Provencher punched the ball in at the 31:50 mark off an assist by Macey Phillips.
But the Cougars lost three key players in the middle of the second half and that took its toll.
“They were really good at getting the ball in the corner, getting past the slot there, and both their goals came from the same (spot),” Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue said. “I think the wind was going to be a slight factor. It hurt them to get the ball in the other end. To be missing three of my best players due to injuries during that middle stretch, we were able to get pressure. We got some good looks and he ended up using both goalies.”
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