Heather Hayes punches in the game-winner in the first half.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – The win probably couldn’t have come at a better time.

After losing another game the Mt. Abram girls’ soccer team felt it should have won Saturday, the Roadrunners rebounded nicely Monday.

Heather Hayes scored late in the first half to lift Mt. Abram to a 1-0 victory over Dirigo.

“We were down after that loss on Saturday,” said Mt. Abram coach Marc Keller. “Dirigo’s a team we always look forward to playing every year. It’s always a great game and always a hard battle. Being able to win one for the first time in my coaching reign (three years) at Mt. Abram was real nice, and I think the girls will be excited.”

Dirigo (3-5) eliminated the Roadrunners (5-4) on the same field on penalty kicks in last fall’s quarterfinals, making this victory a little sweeter.

“This is awesome,” said Hayes. “This was one of the most important games this year because they took us out last year.”

Hayes scored with 2:39 left in the first half off a feed from Michelle Pelletier. She turned on a loose ball in the right corner, sliding into it without even seeing the net. The ball lofted toward the top of the net and dropped in off the goaltender’s hands.

“It was like a sliding kick, a scoop-around,” said Hayes. “I didn’t really see the goal, but I saw ahead before when I went down. So I just cleared it.”

Hayes has put a similar shot on net before.

“It was a great goal,” said Hayes. “It was needed. That was a relief when I scored that.”

From there, the Roadrunners rode a strong defensive effort. Mt. Abram tightened things up in front of the net and didn’t allow for the same kind of opportunities Dirigo had in the first half.

“We were letting them have a lot of control in the center of the field in the first half,” said Keller. “We took away a forward and went with four midfielders in the second half, and that helped us out quite a bit.”

Dirigo’s best chances in the second half came from Katie Hutchinson. Alexa Kaubris from the midfield set her up, but that shot went just wide to the right. Then late in the half, Brooke Weston had a bid smothered by Mt. Abram keeper Kim Johnson, who teamed up with Brianna Wilkins for the shutout.

“That’s the way our games have gone,” said Dirigo coach Art Chamberlin. “That’s four games in a row now where we’ve outshot the other team. We outshot Georges Valley and Wiscasset. I was hoping we’d get a tie out of one of those two. We felt good that we got shots off and we played with them.

“Things just aren’t going our way. “The kids are frustrated, and I’m getting frustrated with what to do.”

Defenders came up with some key plays in the first half to keep the game scoreless until Hayes got the game-winner.

Mt. Abram’s Katie Van Riper cleared a loose ball in front after a Hutchinson shot toward an open goal. Later, she blocked a Hutchinson shot after a defensive turnover. At the other end, Dirigo’s Courtney Derouche blocked a Liz Kankainen shot.

“We haven’t been up,” said Chamberlin. “Other than the Mountain Valley game (a 3-1 win), we haven’t been able to get an early goal.”