ROCKPORT

Doing it twice was too much to ask.

Like it did in last week’s thrilling overtime win against Messalonskee, the Brunswick High School girls soccer squad fell behind 3-0 in Saturday’s Class A North semifinal against Camden Hills. This time, the mountain was too high to climb.

The one-loss Windjammers countered the Dragons’ comeback attempt and proved to be too much, moving on to the regional final with a 4-1 win.

“We had a game plan from the start to man-mark their front four, which worked, but unfortunately, the first 10 minutes have killed us,” Brunswick coach Martyn Davison said. “That’s probably the fifth or sixth time this season we’ve given ourselves a real mountain to climb.”

To combat the many attacking threats of Camden Hills (15-1), Davison switched the formation and had five defenders back at all times. Overall, the set up worked, but the goals came despite it.

In just the fourth minute, Camden Hills’ Charlotte Messer took a rip on a long free-kick outside the box. The ball shot into the air and appeared to be heading over, but dipped down and

No. 2 Camden Hills 4,
No. 3 Brunswick 1

Class A North Girls Soccer Semifinal
At Camden Hills High
School in Rockport
Brunswick — 0 1 — 1
Camden Hills — 3 1 — 4
Goals — (B) Kira Wolpow; (CH)
Charlotte Messer 2, Kristina Kelly,
Kassie Krul.
Assists — (CH) Eliza Roy, Eve
Gutheinz.
Shots on goal — Camden Hills 15,
Brunswick 1.
Saves — (B) Beth Labbe 11, Isabelle
Lang 0.
Corner kicks — Camden Hills 7,
Brunswick 3.
Records — Camden Hills 15-1,
Brunswick 12-4.

Note — Brunswick’s season is completed. over the head of Brunswick (12-4) keeper Beth Labbe at the last second, leaving Davison saying, “How did that go in?”

A mere two minutes later, freshman Kristina Kelly got through on goal and finished into the bottom left corner to make the score 2-0.

“This first goal was a cracking goal, but we made a couple of errors on the second goal. At 2-0 we had that great chance. If that could’ve gone in at 2-1, we could have been back in the game,” Davison said.

Forward Kira Wolpow was behind the chance, stopping the ball in the corner of the box and taking a shot that flew over the bar. It was one of just two shots for the Dragons in the first half.

Camden Hills, on the other hand, took 11 shots and had another goal lined up before the break. Dribbling into the box on the left, Kassie Krul opened up and took a left-footed shot on a tight angle. Labbe got down, but the ball slid just past her and rippled the side netting to make the score 3-0.

The Windjammers, who earned seven corners in the match, were particularly deadly inside the 18.

“They have really good give-and-goes in the box and they’re just sharp,” senior defender Aidan Sachs said. “They obviously practice it really well. We had to switch our formation today and I thought we did a really good job. We were man-marking all of their players. I think we came out and did what we needed to do.”

Great run

Brunswick pressed to open the second half and it was shades of last week when Wolpow curled a right-footer into the top corner to get the Dragons on the board in the 47th minute. If anyone was going to lead a comeback, it was going to be her.

“Kira’s (Wolpow) consistent,” Davison said. “She scores goals every game, pretty much. She’s a natural goal scorer. She can put the ball in the net and you need that.”

Ultimately, though, Camden Hills regained control of the ball and shut down Wolpow’s normally effective runs through the back line. With fellow forward Maeve Arthur, who left the match in the first half with a foot/ankle injury, not 100 percent, it was a challenge to get the offense going.

Camden Hills took nine more shots in the second frame and Brunswick just three.

Messer put the match away in the 63rd minute, when a blocked shot went still at the top of the box and she ran up to finish it in the bottom corner. Again, it was far from a defensive breakdown.

“The guys executed the plan well,” Davison said. “I think we contained them probably as much as any other team this season. They’re an exceptional team.

“They’re so quick and got a great first touch. They’re all club players for DSA (Dutch Soccer Academy) and it’s tough to play against quality players. But, I think we did great. With a bit more luck, it could have been our day.”

Davison had three players out with injury on Saturday, a number actually on the low side. It forced some starters to play a full 80 minutes and limited Davison’s coaching options. If there’s a positive to take away, it’s that the Dragons became much closer.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries,” Sachs said. “But everyone’s been able to step up and I’m really proud of the team. Even the freshmen through seniors, we’re all really close — there’s no real division and I think that that’s really helped. We’ve bonded and we play really well together on the field.”

A 4-1 loss is always going to be a tough way for a long season to end, but given the circumstances and given the challenges they’ve overcome, Davison thinks it was impressive his team got as far as they did.

“It’s tough, because we’ve constantly had to change the team,” Davison said. “At times, we had six players out and they’re all starters. We’ve had five out — today we had three out. It’s been tough because we haven’t had the depth and subbing options. We could never really develop and go to the next stage.”

Sachs is hoping that with a solid group of young, potential-filled players, the Dragons can get to that stage next season.

“I think that it’s really bright for the team,” she said. “There are a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the team and they’ll grow and I can’t wait to come back watch them next season.”

“Above all, I think we got as much out of the team as we could. We’re proud,” Davison said.”

Camden Hills will face the winner of today’s Edward Little/Bangor contest in the Class A North regional final.