WINSLOW — Sophomore Carly Warn and senior Sara Doughty nearly gave Winslow a one goal lead in the first minute of play Wednesday in a Class B North girls soccer quarterfinal game against Oceanside.
Warn streaked down the left sideline and sent a long pass toward Doughty, who missed the ball by inches as she barreled into the Mariners net. Those two would then later score much less conventional goals to give the third-ranked Black Raiders a 2-1 victory.
Winslow (15-1-0) will play either Hermon or Mount View in a semifinal game Saturday while sixth-seeded Oceanside closed its season at 9-5-2.
The Raiders dominated most of the game, registering 17 shots on goal to just one for the Mariners. But Oceanside kept the game close thanks to senior goaltender Rachael Joyce (15 saves) and a strong defensive effort led by sweeper Chloe Jones.
Warn had a number of chances herself but finally scored the game-winner on a strange play with 8:18 left in the game. As the Mariners tried to clear the ball in front of their goal, it struck the back of Winslow’s Hailey Grenier and bounced directly back toward the goal. That set up a race for the ball between Warn and Joyce. Warn won, chipping the ball into the net as Joyce went down.
“I was really excited to score,” said Warn, who notched her 21st of the season. “I just really had that intensity to keep going.”
Earlier in the second half, Warn nearly had a breakaway but Joyce came far out of goal and won that race to the ball.
“Our goalie I think is one of the best goalies in (Class) B,” Oceanside coach Rene Dorr said. “She’s made some amazing saves throughout the season and kept us in games.”
The game was played in a strong north-to-south wind that affected play, including Doughty’s goal midway through the first half when her corner kick curled into the net.
“It got caught up in the wind,” Doughty said. “We were going against it so I knew it would float. (Joyce) came off her line and I saw that and I took advantage of it to play it far post.”
The Mariners tied the game early in the second half on Abby Veilleux’s direct kick from 25 yards out on the right side. Veilleux lofted it high toward the far post and it curled in past the outstretched hands of Jennifer Ferry.
“That’s her sixth direct kick in four games that she’s put in the net,” Dorr said. “She’s hit some really, really direct kick shots on set plays.”
The Mariners played better defensively in the second half but it just seemed a matter of time before the Raiders would score. They had 10 penalty corners in the final 40 minutes and two of their shots hit off the post.
“Right now I think we’re honestly at our peak,” Doughty said. “We’re coming out really strong, really intense and playing for each other. This is probably our biggest game. We’ve been knocked out in quarterfinals for three years and we weren’t going to let ourselves get down today.”
For the second game in a row, Winslow allowed just one shot on goal. A lot of that credit goes to their back four defenders, who include Maeghan Bernard, Paige Trask, Juliann Lapierre and Grace Smith.
“I can’t be more proud of those guys,” Winslow coach Steve Bodge said. “I think we’ve given up 11 or 12 goals all year.”
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