Players battle for the ball during Tuesday girls soccer game between Bangor and Brunswick at Brunswick High School. Eli Canfield/The Times Record
BRUNSWICK — It was a game that lived up to expectations, and then some.
After all, both the Brunswick and Bangor girls soccer teams were undefeated coming into Tuesday, sitting near the top of the Class A North standings.
Just ask Bangor senior co-captain Hannah Sherwood.
“We knew this was going to be a physical game that could come down to the wire,” said Sherwood.
And it did.
Thanks to some second half adjustments and a couple of Brunswick mistakes, the Bangor recovered from a two goal halftime deficit to come back and stun the Dragons for a 3-2 victory. Devon St. Louis’ chip shot over the outstretched arms of Brunswick goalie Sophia Morin with 1:18 remaining broke the tie and all but secured the win for the Rams.
“We just played Bangor soccer, fighting to every ball and working hard on the field,” said co-captain McKayla Kendall. “We found the fight in the second half. Never count the Rams out of a game, we just showed why.”
The Rams got goals from Emilyn Streams, who converted a penalty kick to cut the lead in half, and Teagan Atherley to tie the game at two apiece.
“We made some adjustments and executed them properly, that was the best game we’ve played so far,” said Bangor assistant Jameson Ploch. “I’d like to say that’s our first comeback but it’s not, we have experience in intense situations like we were in tonight.”
Devon St. Louis of Bangor winds up to send a pass while Kynli Van Leer of Brunswick defends during a girls soccer game Tuesday night at Brunswick High School. Eli Canfield/The Times Record
The loss drops Brunswick to 5-1.
“I thought we were the better team tonight to be honest,” Brunswick head coach Martyn Davison said. “We dominated a good portion of the game, it came down to whoever put the ball in the net. They got a couple of late ones and we didn’t.”
Coming into Tuesday, the Dragons had outscored opponents 27-0. Davison knew his team was in for its biggest challenge yet with Bangor in town.
“We always have a tough game against these guys,” Davison said. “They were good, we knew we’d have to bring our game to another level if we wanted to win tonight.”
The Dragons jumped out to a quick lead when Logan Brown struck a shot from 25 yards over Bangor goalie Emma McNeil. Alexis Morin doubled the lead shortly after on a breakaway, beating McNeil with a hard shot to the bottom left corner.
The goal was the 9th of the season for Morin, a freshman.
“We played well on offense and took advantage of our chances in the first half,” added Davison. “We learned a lot that we can focus on during this week before we see Camden on Saturday.”
The win improves Bangor to 5-0.
“This was a big one, we gained a lot of confidence up and down the team,” Sherwood said. “To beat a good team like Brunswick in that manner, we have a lot to be happy about heading back to Bangor.”
Morin finished 10 saves for Brunswick while McNeil stopped 11 shots for the Rams.
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