Panthers rally from 2-1 deficit to edge Roadrunners
SALEM – Pumped up after a 2-1 lead in the opening half, Darren Allen had to convince his team that North Yarmouth Academy was certainly capable of scoring twice into the wind Thursday.
NYA coach Ben Graham was trying to convince his club of the same idea.
Both coaches were correct. The Panthers scored late in regulation and again in overtime to edge Mt. Abram 3-2 in a Western Maine Class C semifinal. Both goals came facing the wind.
“The wind is not a deciding factor here,” said Allen. “We scored two goals into the wind. I said ‘Why can’t they?’ And they did.”
The Roadrunners (13-2-1) were just 8:38 away from advancing to their first regional final game, but Auburn’s Luke Welch tied the game. Then in overtime, Dimitrios Pilitsis capped off the comeback, scoring his second of the game with 4:30 remaining in the first 10-minute overtime.
“I can’t ask for anymore from these guys,” said Allen. “They played their guts out. We took them to overtime. It was anybody’s game. That’s a good team.”
Mt. Abram had taken a 2-1 lead with a pair of Sam Witherspoon goals in the first half.
“We didn’t panic,” said Graham. “I told them at halftime, ‘Settle down.’ They had gotten unsettled the last 20 minutes. You could see it. The got rattle by the second goal.”
Despite facing a blustery wind and a glaring sun, NYA (11-5) still produced quality shots. But for much of the second half, the Panthers couldn’t beat the Roadrunners’ defense and keeper Adam Sperry. Scott Carpenter hit the post once, Welch had a pair of quality bids, and Chris Curran fired a shot go wide.
“The defense played out of their minds,” said Allen. “They were making off-the-ball runs. Nobody in our conference plays like that. They did a good job.”
With regulation winding down and Mt. Abram getting tantalizingly close to holding off NYA, a Carpenter shot from the left side hit the post again. It deflected in front where Welch calmly settled it and steered it into the net.
Mt. Abram pressed in the final minutes of regulation but couldn’t score. The Roadrunners won the toss and took the wind in overtime, but NYA ended it on its second shot of the extra session. Shane Minte served a pass from the left side to Pilitsis in front. He fired a low shot toward the left post, just beyond Sperry’s reach.
“I saw Chris Curran running down, and I thought of passing it but decided to take a shot,” said Pilitsis. “There was an opening on the post, and it was there. So I took my chances.”
The Panthers had the wind in the first half and struck first. A ball bounced off a defender and Pilitsis made a run down the left wing for a 1-0 lead at 11:46. Mt. Abram quickly tied it when Sam Witherspoon scored on a penalty kick at 12:15.
The goal gave Mt. Abram momentum. Willie Nalle and Christian Talmage fueled the defense and Mt. Abram began to dictate play. Then with 4:25 left, Aaron Adams, with his back to the goal, flicked the ball toward the net, and Witherspoon redirected it for a 2-1 lead.
“It was a bit discouraging,” said Pilitsis. “It wasn’t our best game. We got down after that second goal. The second half is normally our game. We normally come out slow. We almost always turn it up in the second half. That’s when we win our games.”
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