The Lewiston Blue Devils win their first quarterfinal in the history of the girls’ soccer program.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – It had been a long time coming for the Lewiston girls’ soccer team, but Friday afternoon, it finally arrived.

After nearly a dozen tries at a quarterfinal victory in the program’s history, the Blue Devils managed a first against rival Edward Little. Lewiston received a pair of goals from Laura Martel and one from Kelsey Varney to lift Lewiston to its first quarterfinal win, beating the Red Eddies 3-0.

“We wanted to get further than any team had gotten before,” said senior sweeper Lindsey Foster. “It’s really, really good for us. I think we have a good team. I think that we’ll go far.”

Lewiston advances to Tuesday’s semifinal round. The Blue Devil postseason success has been limited to three preliminary wins. In 11 previous tries in the quarterfinals, Lewiston has lost, but that wasn’t the case this time. With a strong wind at their back in the opening half, the unbeaten Blue Devils (14-0-1) scored twice. From there, Lewiston rode its defense and Beth Melanson posted her eighth straight shutout in goal.

“We really did want to get something happening in that first half and come out with a couple,” said Lewiston coach Rick Meyers, whose team was playing without midfielder Katie Morin, who was out with an illness.

Martel scored off a corner and then set up Varney to set the standard EL (8-6-2) had to match in the second half.

“Lewiston’s a great team,” said EL coach Tom Grossman. “There’s a reason they’re undefeated. It’s tough being down 2-0, especially against a team like that whose got a great sweeper. They’re real organized in the back. They play hard and win the 50-50 balls.”

Lewiston took the lead just 6:01 into the game. Martel had noticed that there was space on the short side of the net. So she sent the ball in low toward the left post. Two EL defenders missed clear attempts as it rolled by them and into the net.

“I saw the space in there, and I was really looking for a player, but it actually went through and went in,” said Martel. “I was actually looking for someone like Gen Lysen or somebody to go and tap it in, but it just rolled in by itself.”

Lewiston had a near miss when Mallory Long hit the crossbar, but with 15:04 left in the half, the Blue Devils made it 2-0. Martel stole the ball from an EL defender on the right side. She fired a cross back to the front of the net where Varney stood all alone for a header.

“I did see her running on,” said Martel. “I tried to cross it further up and my left foot took it and shot it towards the goalie. The ball just happened to go over the goalie’s head to her.”

Varney had another try late in the half, but EL keeper Brittney French made a diving save.

When EL got the wind advantage in the second half, it tried to rally but couldn’t produce the shots to test Melanson.

“We felt good with the 2-0 lead,” said Foster. “We kept strong defensively. We broke a little bit, but we still kept strong. We just wanted to keep the ball on the ground because the win would obviously take it.”

EL’s Telma Rosquete, Alyson Keene, Lindsey Visbaras and Beth Esponnette helped create some pressure up front, outshooting Lewiston 6-1 in the second half.

“The second half we did a much better job,” said Grossman. “We possessed the ball a little bit better, but they’re first half was the difference.”

With 20:36 left in the game, Martel beat two EL defenders and froze the goaltender at the right side of the net before tucking in a shot to the left.

“3-0 against a team like that, you’re not going to put in three goals in 20 minutes,” said Grossman.