PARIS — Mt. Blue senior Emma Dunn and the rest of her team thought her goal would stand in the second half, but Oxford Hills kept pressing — and it paid off.
The Vikings’ Ashley Richardson tied the game at 1-1 with 1:38 left and that is how the score remained through double overtime in a girls soccer regular season finale on Tuesday.
“After that (Oxford Hills) goal, I wasn’t pleased with their effort,” Mt. Blue coach Griffin Conlogue said. “I thought (we) would get a second (goal) there, but it was great to respond going into the overtime. We didn’t give up any chances in overtime …
“It is tough when you have a game like that where you dominate the whole game. We only got challenged inside the 18 once, and that was on the goal. All their other shots came from pretty far out and weren’t really challenging for my keeper.”
A scoreless first half featured shots going over the crossbar as both teams missed a series of splendid opportunities that might have made the difference in the final outcome.
Mt. Blue (11-2-1) controlled most of the first half but failed to capitalize on three corners.
Dunn’s goal game came 4:11 into the second half, when she gathered a KK Daggett pass and slipped the ball into the net.
“I thought we had it,” Dunn said. “After we scored, I thought the energy definitely went up, and I thought we had it, but the field is wet. Stuff like that happens, but we fought until the end.”
Next up for both squads is the Class A North playoffs. The Cougars should have a top three or four seed, while the Vikings (8-5-1) will finish seventh.
“Last season, it was something that we had focused on from the beginning to the end of the year — not quitting even if we go down,” Oxford Hills coach Brittany Moore said. “This year we have had moments where we got down on ourselves and we talked about that uphill climb. … So they are doing a good job of not quitting when things don’t look good.”
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