PORTLAND – Becky Smith scored the goal, the 49th of her soccer career at Waynflete, but it was a little bit like being at the end of a bucket brigade.

“It was definitely a team effort,” Smith said of the five teammates who preceded her in a connect-the-dots passing line that began at the right sideline, crossed over to the left, and finally delivered the ball to Smith near the left post.

A quick move around the goalkeeper, and Smith needed only to tap the ball into the net for the first score in Waynflete’s 3-0 Western Maine Class C quarterfinal victory over Hall-Dale Tuesday afternoon at the Fore River athletic complex.

“It’s entertaining soccer to watch,” said Guy Cousins, coach of No. 6 Hall-Dale (11-5).

“That’s the sort of style we try to play, but they certainly outplayed us.”

No. 3 Waynflete (13-2) advances to host a semifinal match Friday against No. 7 Old Orchard Beach, which upset No. 2 Madison 3-2 in overtime in Madison.

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Junior Sadie Cole and sophomore Ella Millard also scored for Waynflete, which dominated possession in the second half after a relatively even first half.

“We came out with a lot more heart and energy,” said Smith, a senior.

“It hit us that we just need to work that much harder, because this is a good team that we were playing.

“Something clicked, and we pushed ourselves harder.”

Still, freshman goalkeeper Olivia Maynard (eight saves) and a plucky H-D defense kept Waynflete off the scoreboard for the first 53 minutes of the game.

Then Waynflete sophomore Walker Foehl intercepted a throw-in on the right sideline and set in motion a series of five passes culminating in Smith’s tap-in goal. Junior Amelia Mitchell, senior Madeline Agnew, Cole and Millard built the bridge to Smith.

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“It was really exciting, definitely, and it spurred us on,” Smith said. “(Millard) gave me a great pass. We were just so revved up to keep playing hard.”

Waynflete continued to press the attack, outshooting Hall-Dale 14-1 in the second half and finishing with a 10-0 advantage in corner kicks.

Four minutes after the first goal, Smith set up Cole for another short-range score and it was 2-0.
Millard sealed it with a little more than two minutes remaining. Waynflete keeper Juliana Harwood, also a freshman, needed four saves for the shutout. The most impressive involved a sliding smother on a dangerous cross, a split-second before Hall-Dale forward Maura Stottler arrived to meet it.

Waynflete defender Rhiannan Jackson, a junior, was the chief fly in Hall-Dale’s offensive ointment, repeatedly breaking up forays before they could gain traction and keeping the ball away from leading scorer Carylanne Wolfington.

“Because when she got the ball at her feet and she could turn, she was dangerous,” Waynflete Coach Todd Dominski said.

“(Jackson) played great. She kept stepping to the ball, winning those balls in the middle.”
Each team had three shots on goal before intermission.

“We were starting to get some momentum in the first half,” said Cousins, “with connections of two, three, four passes in a row. But when they have six, seven, eight passes in a row, that’s true possession soccer.”

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at: gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH


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