GARDINER — Sure, it took a little while for Gardiner to get going in Friday’s Class B North girls soccer quarterfinal. But once the Tigers found their groove, they were impossible to beat.
Down by a goal early, the Tigers scored three unanswered goals to defeat young and determined Winslow 3-1 on Friday in the first half of a girls/boys playoff doubleheader at Hoch Field.
The fifth-seeded Tigers (12-3-0) will visit No. 4 Hermon in the B North quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Winslow finished 4-10-1.
In the nightcap, the fifth-seeded Gardiner boys defeated No. 12 Old Town 4-0 in a B North prelim.
Sophia Marrone was a big reason the Tigers prevailed. The sophomore’s goal tied the score at 1-1 midway through the first half. She was a thorn in Winslow’s side the rest of the time, swiping the ball and blocking shots on defense and creating chances on offense.
Not bad for someone who switched positions this season.
“She played outside-midfielder for us last year and this year she’s center-mid,” Gardiner coach Jessica Prince said. “And she’s everywhere, she’s tracking back on D, she’s going up on offense, she generates a lot for us.”
How long did it take Marrone to adjust?
“Right away,” she said, noting she made the move while playing summer soccer.
“I think I’ve really found my stride, getting to be everywhere and distributing the ball,” she said. “This formation works well for the team and includes everyone. We’re connecting and we’re scoring.”
Abigail Cooley and Lydia Gero scored Gardiner’s second-half goals.
Winslow’s Emily Daigneault, left, defends but Gardiner’s Sophia Marrone scores a goal during a Class B North girls soccer prelim game Friday in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Winslow, which has 10 freshmen on its roster, hardly looked like a team that lost to Gardiner 7-2 in the regular season. The Black Raiders peppered Tigers goalkeeper Taylor Takatsu with shot after shot, and their efforts finally paid off when Madison Cochran took a pass from Kari Meak inside the box and lofted a perfect fly ball past Takatsu 11:27 into the first half.
“Our girls have played really hard to come together and become stronger as a team, so they really pulled together and showed everybody what we’re all about, so (there are) good things to come,” Winslow coach Brian Kimball said.
The Tigers responded with some pressure of their own and hit paydirt when Marrone, with a few Raider defenders facing her just inside the left corner of the 18-yard box, unearthed a blast that soared past keeper Bella Loubier.
“To Winslow’s credit, they were a really tough matchup for us tonight,” Prince said. “Not the first time what we gave an early goal this season, and I think that it really helped us in the moments to respond to it, which was tonight.”
Winslow responded with plenty of pressure of its own, giving little rest for Takatsu, who made six of her seven saves in the first half. With 10 minutes left, Takatsu stopped Allyson Spencer’s shot dead center; four minutes later, she darted out of the goal and beat Winslow’s Davenee Kimball to the ball.
Winslow defender Emily Nichols, left, tries to take the ball away from Gardiner midfielder Abby Cooley (10) during a Class B North girls soccer prelim game Friday in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Takatsu’s lone save of the second half was her best, when she leaped to grab an arching shot by Meak, a junior who a was playmaking force with her sister, freshman Mirra Meak, all day.
“They have a couple more years left, so hopefully we can grow on their partnership,” Kimball said.
Winslow’s other attempts were thwarted by Gardiner’s defense, which included Corinne Vasvary, Dayna Vassal and Maggie Blais.
In the second half, Gardiner turned on the afterburners, this time for good. With 22:52 remaining, Cooley took a cross from Catherine Mansir, eluded a Winslow defender and pushed the ball past Loubier, who finished with 13 saves, nine in the second half.
The Tigers sealed the win when Gero lined a shot past Loubier with 20:37 left.
Gardiner and Hermon did not meet in the regular season.
• • •
In Game 2, Kian Alves scored twice as Gardiner ousted Old Town. The Tigers will visit No. 4 Medomak Valley in a B North quarterfinal next week at a date and time to be determined.
Alves, a junior, has 20 goals this season.
“Kian has been a tremendous goal-scorer for us this season,” Gardiner coach Nick Wallace said. “He has a knack for scoring goals at big moments.”
Dillon Elliott and Aiden Paradis also scored for the Tigers.
As was the case in the girls’ game, the boys pulled away in the second half. Elliott’s goal 6:37 into the game gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead they nursed into halftime.
Gardiner made it 2-0 6:19 into the second half when a rebound off an Old Town defender made its way to Alves, who immediately blasted the ball past Old Town keeper Ian Bryant. Zach Reed was credited with the assist.
Alves made it 3-0 9:19 into the period when he intercepted an Old Town clearance and fired the ball to the left side of the net past Bryant.
Paradis closed out the scoring with 15:01 left in the period, assisted by Alves.
Medomak Valley defeated Gardiner 1-0 in their lone regular-season meeting Sept. 12, and Wallace admitted his team has some unfinished business.
“We know them really well,” Wallace said. “It’s going to be a good battle. It’s a little different. This is the first time we’ve been in the North in six years. For us, it’s different. We don’t know these teams at all, so we’ve got to surprise them a little bit, too.”
Old Town’s Bryant made five saves, including a stop off an Alex Taylor penalty kick in the first half. Gardiner’s Connor Fairservice had eight stops for the Tigers’ seventh clean sheet of the season.
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