BRUNSWICK MIDFIELDER Libby Arford (26) passes ahead with Oxford Hills defender Bryanne Starbird (15) close by during a KVAC girls high school soccer game in Brunswick on Tuesday. The undefeated Dragons won 5-1.
“It always seems to be Paige to Rach, Paige to Anna, Anna to Paige, and each of them have a lot of assists this year, which is great,” said Brunswick High School girls soccer coach Martyn Davison, whose now 10- 0 Dragons will host 8-1 Hampden Academy on Thursday after a 5-1 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference victory over Oxford Hills on Tuesday.
Playing for the first time in a week, Brunswick shook off a slow start, scoring two goals late in the first half for a 3-0 lead at the break.
In this one, Tetu was an assist machine, dishing out four helpers, with Cowan netting three goals and Moroney one.
“Our passing was definitely on point today, and Anna and I made some great connections,” said Tetu.
“Brunswick is a tough team to play against, with some skilled players who connect really well, making it tough to guard everyone all at once,” said Oxford Hills midfielder Mikayla Morin, who broke Brunswick’s shutout hopes with a late second-half goal. “We’ve had a hard time scoring this year, so it was good to get one at the end today after having some tough games recently, and hopefully we can build on something.”
Dragons on top
Brunswick jumped into the lead six minutes in as Cowan managed to get her knee on a corner kick from Tetu.
Oxford Hills stayed in the game for the next 25 minutes, with goaltender Sam Bickford making five saves, including a big stop on a Moroney breakaway and Cowan’s shot banging off the cross bar.
The Vikings had trouble cracking the defense of Brunswick’s Allison Hill, Lyse Henshaw and Lauren Carlton.
On offense, the Dragons kept coming, outshooting the Vikings 11-2 in the first half. Goals by Moroney (9:11 remaining) and Cowan (21.2 seconds left) were both assisted by Tetu as Brunswick went to the half up 3-0.
“To get those last two goals before halftime made us more comfortable going into the second half, knowing we could relax and use our possession,” said Tetu, who set up Cowan just two minutes into the second half for a 4-0 Brunswick lead.
“We have made amazing progress, and I would have never guessed we would be undefeated, and beat Bangor this season. Now, we are looking forward to the playoffs and seeing where it takes us.”
Tetu made it 5-0 with 6:42 left, with Moroney assisting.
Morin broke through the Brunswick defense and deposited a shot behind Dragons netminder Haley Murano (two saves) with 3:32 remaining.
“Since I started coaching here three years ago, that is our first goal against Brunswick, so that is pretty positive for us,” said Oxford Hills coach Cortney Lefebvre, whose 3-6-2 Vikings visit Mt. Ararat at Topsham on Friday at 4:30 p.m. “We didn’t come into this game expecting a win, but we were looking for a tie. We held them to two goals in the second half, a 2-1 game in the second half, so we played better.”
“We hadn’t played since last Tuesday, and at times the game seemed very slow, but we scored five goals, so you can’t complain about that,” said Davison. “When you don’t play for a week, when you’re use to playing every two or three days, it’s tough. There is only so much practice you can do at this point.”
Brunswick held a 28-6 shots advantage and a 6-3 edge in corner kicks.
Oxford Hills currently holds the 10th and final spot in the Eastern Maine Class A Heal Point Standings.
“I think we need to beat some of those teams ranked just in front of us to get into the playoffs,” said Morin, whose Vikings face Edward Little (Oct. 9) at home and visit Lewiston (Oct. 11) in their regular season finale. “We need to play like we know how to play to get there.”
“I think we can stay 10th from here, with some beatable teams coming up,” said Lefebvre. “Our last three games are all winnable for us. We just have to come out and play.”
Brunswick 5, Oxford Hills 1
At Brunswick
Oxford Hills — 0 1 — 1
Brunswick — 3 2 — 5
Goals — (OH) Mikayla Morin; (B) Anna Cowan 3,
Rachel Moroney, Paige Tetu.
Assists — (B) Paige Tetu 4, Rachel Moroney.
Shots — Brunswick, 28-6.
Saves — (OH) Sam Bickford 17; (B) Haley Murano 2.
Corner kicks — Brunswick, 6-3.
Records — Brunswick 10-0, Oxford Hills 3-6-2.
Next — The Dragons host Hampden Academy on
Thursday at 3:30 p.m.; Oxford Hills visits Mt. Ararat on
Friday at 4:30 p.m.
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