WMHS girls soccer

Wolverines advance with 4-1 win

Wed, 10/25/2017 - 6:00am

Senior Grace Webber had two goals and an assist to lead Wiscasset to a 4-1 Class D South quarterfinal win over Searsport Tuesday afternoon at Searsport. The win advances the Wolverines to round two. They’ll play Greenville at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27 at Greenville. Greenville finished the regular season 10-3 and advanced with a win over Buckfield.

Less than six minutes into Tuessday’s game, Webber with Lily Souza assisting put Wiscasset Middle High School up 1-0 drilling the ball past Viking goalie Brooklynn Alberts. Webber struck again at the 20:18 mark scoring from inside the 18-yard line.

The Vikings then took possession of the ball and drove deep. Ashten Wells’ shot from just outside the 18 brought Wolverine goalie Lindsey Gordon charging from the net for the block and save. But Searsport kept the pressure on. Cassidy Priest carried the ball down the right wing running shoulder with Wolverine Arie Mills. Following a corner kick at 12:40, freshman Casey Snow found Wells open and she scored making it a 2-1 soccer game.

It then started raining lightly, worsening the already poor playing conditions. With eight minutes left until the half, freshman Gwen Webber took a Wolverine shot from just outside the 18 but the ball carried over the crossbar. A minute later, the Vikings were whistled for a handball on the 20-yard line. The direct kick that followed was wide, left of the goal.

A few minutes before the horn, Searsport’s Mackenzie Alley crossed a pass to Wells in front of the Wolverine net but senior Maeve Blodgett was there to break up the play.

The Wolverines held a slim 9-7 shot edge through the first 40 minutes of play.  The teams had just one corner kick apiece.

Gordon made one of her best saves of the game at the 35-minute mark of the second half by tipping Mackenzie Alley’s shot over the crossbar. Soon after, Grace Webber stole the ball from Wells and dribbled the length of the soccer field only to have her shot blocked and cleared away by senior Audrey Walker.

The skies continued to darken and rain began falling harder. Wiscasset senior Sarah Foley fired but Alberts was there for the save.

With 32:30 left to play, the Vikings were mounting another drive when the referee suddenly stopped play in front of the Wolverine net. It was later ruled an inadvertent whistle and play resumed. Two minutes later, play was stopped again and the Viking coaching staff was hit with a yellow card after arguing the call.

The Wolverines scored again with 8:11 left after Gwen Webber’s corner kick hit a Viking defender and bounced into the net. Souza then scored (Webber assisting) with 5:45 to go and it was lights out for Searsport.

Gordon finished with 13 saves. Alberts turned away 15. Blodgett, Mills, Ellie Pratt and Kateleen Trask were defensive standouts for Wiscasset. Foley and senior Vanessa Dunn played well up front for the Wolverines and freshman Paige Davenport put in some quality minutes off the bench.

The Wolverines entered the game 8-6 in the Mountain Valley Conference and ranked sixth in the MPA Heal standings. Searsport at 7-7 was seeded third. WMHS’ final game of the regular season was Oct. 14 when it shut out Telstar 3-0.  Searsport’s last game was a 3-2 non-conference win over visiting Dexter Oct. 12.