The Lisbon girls’ soccer team is learning to deal with their success.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

LISBON – As teams around the state scrambled to check the latest Heal Point standings each week, the Lisbon girls’ soccer team would typically ignore them.

The ‘Hounds showed little interest in those statistics in the past, but this year, they’re scouring the standings and out-of-town scores with more vigor.

“It was never a big deal until we started winning,” said senior Ali Gamage. “Every day I look in the paper and see how the other teams did.”

Winning? The Lisbon girls’ soccer team? Even the players still hear the skepticism from people around school. They’ve heard about the team’s success and actually wonder if it is true.

“It’s so great to hear the announcements when we have a victory and not just: ‘Lisbon was defeated,”’ said senior Becky Castonguay. “A lot of people are coming to our games. Our games are getting more support. The more support we have, the better it seems that we do.”

Indeed the Greyhounds are winning and they’re smack dab in the middle of the playoff chase. With the exception of the year of the open tournament, Lisbon hasn’t made the playoffs since 1995. The Greyhounds have won just four regular-season games since.

Lisbon is now 6-5 and ranked eighth in the Western C standings.

“It’s exciting,” said Gamage. “Last year, we’d go into a game and they’d think they could easily beat us. This year, the other team thinks they can beat us, and then we come out with a win.”

Even for the seniors it is a bit overwhelming at times, especially considering they’d won just two games the previous three years.

“When I came in as a freshman, did I expect this? No!,” said Gamage. “Even my sophomore and junior year, after a while you just go out and think Lisbon girls’ soccer as being fun and not about winning. For it all to come together your senior year, it takes a little while to actually realize that it’s happening.” “It’s so great to be winning and finishing strong as a team,” said Castonguay.

Coach Claude Rioux expected his team to make some improvement over last year’s 1-11-2 record but to do this well was even been beyond his expectations.

“I really didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Rioux. “It’s basically the same kids we had last year, except for a couple of kids that graduated. Last year, we were young and inexperienced and we had a lot of injuries.

“It’s a pleasant surprise. The kids have done the work. They’ve worked hard and had a positive attitude. You can’t ask for more than that.”

The Greyhounds have avoided injuries that had the roster being shuffled constantly last year. Even though Lisbon opened the year with losses to Wiscasset and Georges Valley, the Greyhounds could see a difference.

“In the Wiscasset game, I realized in the second half, if we all worked as a team we could come together and win,” said Gamage, who says their change in fortune may be related to changing home fields this year. “The Wiscassset game, if we had played the first half like we played the second half, it would have been an even game.”

After the two losses, the Greyhounds rallied to beat a respectable Monmouth club and then won two straight with a win over Boothbay.

“The win at Monmouth, we were down 2-1 and we were down 1-0 and we came back to win it 3-2,” said Rioux. “That was a big win for us. It gave the kids a little more confidence and showed they could play.”

Things have only continued to blossom since. “We’re coming into games with nothing to lose,” said senior Dominique Mathieu. “We’ve had difficult seasons in years past. We’re coming in there with nothing to lose; you’re putting everything on the line. We’ve been going to the ball well, and it’s been very positive, I think.”

They played a strong game against Winthrop last week, a 1-0 loss. If they get to the playoffs, they want to be able to challenge some of the top teams.

“There’s a lot of potential with the top teams,” said Mathieu. “We played Winthrop and being able to play them and knowing we can be so close to them, it was such a close game. To be able to stand strong against a team like that, it gives us more confidence going in and we just want it that much more.”

The Greyhounds have tried to build off each success and failure.

“We’re getting a little more confident each game,” said Rioux. “We see improvement each game. They feel good about the way they’re playing soccer.”