Winthrop seniors know it’s their last hurrah.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

The Winthrop girls’ soccer team knew the talent and experience it had coming back. The Ramblers knew how far they got last year, but they also understood they could take nothing for granted this season.

“They’re a humble group,” said Winthrop coach Marc Fortin. “We’re preaching that, too: “‘Let’s stay humble. We’re lucky to be where we are. We’re going to keep working hard and hopefully, things will keep happening for us.'”

So far so good for the Ramblers who reached the Western C final before losing to Traip. The Western C playoff race will be tough once again. Traip returns much of its team and North Yarmouth Academy has plenty of talent, already beating the Rangers once. Still, the Ramblers have put themselves on pace to be in that mix. Winthrop is 7-0 and handling its high expectation well. They’re also second overall in the Western C standings.

“When you’re a four-year old program, I think your expectations are limited,” said Fortin. “We have our own expectations, but I don’t think that’s wearing on us. I think people are still looking at Wiscasset and Georges Valley. I don’t think people expected us to be 7-0 at this point. I don’t think we’re feeling the pressure. We’re starting to realize that we can make a run at the MVC title and we’re starting to realize that we might have an undefeated season here, which is kind of special. You don’t have those everyday.”

Winthrop only lost starter Kristy Parvanta from a solid defense last year, but Jen MacMaster has stepped in to help fill that void. She’s part of a defensive core in front of goaltender Katie Brooks. Renee St. Hilaire, Ali Dick and Lisa Pennabere are veteran defenders. Heather Babb, Ashley Falcone and Kylee Knowles make for a strong midfield while All-State forward Kaitlyn Dunn leads the offense with Elspeth Hilton, Melissa Nguyen, Aimee Simoneau and Laura Ravis.

Considering the bulk of the team are seniors who have been with the program since it began in middle school, this group has been working toward this season for a long time.

“We start seven seniors and there are 13 on the squad,” said Fortin. “They know it’s their last hurrah.”

If anything was learned from last year, the Ramblers know that they can make anything happen come tournament time.

“We’d like to go one more step and get to that state game,” said Fortin. “We thought we were pretty lucky getting by NYA last year. Come playoff time, anything can happen.”

Getting defensive

The Mt. Abram girls’ soccer team took the biggest hit last season on defense. Of the five seniors who graduated came from the defensive end, including goaltender Sara Martin and sweeper Lanie Roy.

The Roadrunners have found some good replacements for those spots. Senior Kim Johnson waited for her opportunity and has made the best of it.

“Kim has always been a goalkeeper, but she’s just been behind Sara Martin, and she hasn’t had a lot of time to play,” said Mt. Abram coach Marc Keller. “She’s been doing a fantastic job for us.”

Senior Stephanie Hood has taken over for Roy, an All-State defender. She played midfield last year but was also prepped for this move at times.

“Stephanie is learning the position,” said Keller. “She played it a little bit last year because I knew we were losing Lanie Roy. I put her in a little bit last year, and she’s been doing a great job.”

The Roadrunners are only 4-3 but were ranked fifth in the latest Western C Heal Points. They could be one of those clubs that could make things miserable for opponents in the tournament. Mt. Abram has been in every game, and with a few twists or turns, the Roadrunners should have had a better record.

“We should be 6-1,” said Keller. “We lost to Monmouth, 3-1. We gave up a couple of bad goals. We outshot them. We outshot Carrabec 27-2 and lost 1-0. We just completely dominated them all game long.”