BIDDEFORD — Biddeford took a 1-0 lead early in the second half of Wednesday’s girls soccer clash with South Portland only to see the visiting Red Riots send the game to overtime.

Both teams had their chances in the five-minute extra frame, but it wasn’t until there was just seven seconds left that South Portland’s Paige Fleming found the back of the net on a header to give the Red Riots a 2-1 win over the Tigers at Waterhouse Field.

Despite the loss, Biddeford coach Darren Boynton was proud of his team’s performance,

“It was the hardest fought game that we’ve had all year long,” said Boynton. “That was a great contest between two evenlymatched teams. We came in wanting to be the hardest working team on the field … we came in with that goal and I think we did a pretty good job.”

The Tigers had plenty of chances in the first half to get on the board, but were turned away by South Portland keeper Zoe Brown, who made 12 stops on Wednesday.

Several of those opportunities came from the feet of Missy Huot and Erin Martin, who seemed to be on the same page throughout the game.

“They’ve been playing together since they were like six years old, so I guess it’s a good thing that it shows. Early on they were definitely in each other’s heads,” said Boynton of the two senior standouts.

The Biddeford duo would finally strike at the 29:01 mark of the second half when Martin sent a pass to Huot, who found the back of the net to put the Tigers up 1-0.

South Portland also had plenty of chances and would finally get on the board with 17:40 left in regulation when Callie O’Brien beat Biddeford keeper Anna Marie Seiler.

The goals from O’Brien and Fleming were the only two negatives to an otherwise impressive performance from the Tigers’ goalie, who had 14 saves on the night.

“She was unbelievable tonight. She was just amazing and that’s what a senior captain needs to do,” said Boynton.

Boynton, who said his team will now focus on a game with Scarborough on Monday, believes this game will help his team down the road.

“I think this is a great character builder,” said Boynton. “The girls were in great spirits after the game … they were disappointed that we didn’t get the result we obviously wanted, but they weren’t hanging their heads. They knew they fought hard and just got beat.”

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322.

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