AUBURN – From a fantastic flip to a troublesome tip, the Edward Little boys’ soccer team watched a hard-fought tie unravel into a hard-luck loss in the blink of an eye Wednesday afternoon.
Undaunted by the Red Eddies’ tying goal off a David Lutz flip throw-in with seven seconds remaining in regulation, Mt. Ararat countered with Matt Snyder’s strike off a rebound with 1:38 left in the second overtime and stayed unbeaten and untied with a dramatic 2-1 win.
Mt. Ararat (13-0) sits atop both the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Eastern Class A Heal Points, but the Eagles were pushed the distance by a team they dispatched 3-0 in September.
“There are seven legit teams in Eastern Maine,” said Mt. Ararat coach Rick Renaud. “Anybody who draws a team like Edward Little or Lewiston in the first round of the playoffs and thinks it’s going to be a cakewalk, it isn’t.”
Snyder scored the game-winner after Noah Greenlaw ran with Tyler Simpson’s indirect kick and overlapped the EL defense to the left side.
EL freshman goalkeeper Josh Mains dove to his left and palmed the ball off the right post for his 19th save of the afternoon, but Snyder, one of 11 Mt. Ararat seniors, redirected it.
“It was a broken play, and I was fortunate that it went in off my chest,” Snyder said. “All game we were frustrated. We knew they were a better team than we saw the first time, and they proved it.”
Every emotional advantage seemed to favor the Red Eddies (7-4-2) after Ethan Grund’s equalizer in the furious final moments of the second half.
In EL’s mind, the party wasn’t over until the skinny kid stopped somersaulting. Lutz, a sophomore forward, launched four of his pinpoint flip throws in the final three minutes. The Red Eddies’ reserves threw their bench and a dozen duffel bags in every direction to make room for his last one.
It sailed toward to the far post, away from Mt. Ararat goalie Ryan Vermette (four saves), who hit the soggy turf in the confusion as Grund got his head on the ball. After the initial bid appeared to deflect off a Mt. Ararat defender, Grund followed with his foot and found the net just inside the post.
“That was pretty discouraging to play that hard, that well and get nothing to show for it,” said EL coach Dave Morin. “They got one little break, and that’s what happens.”
Simpson and Greenlaw also fed Adam Paine’s goal to break a scoreless tie in the 74th minute. Simpson put a head on Greenlaw’s lofting corner kick, putting Paine in position to head in the rebound.
Mt. Ararat enjoyed a staggering 25-4 edge in shots on goal, but inspired defense by Grund, Carl Skilling, Kyle Theriault, Nate Guerette, Tyler Dorris and Tyler Snowe, among others, kept the Eagles under wraps most of the day.
“The wet field probably helped us, too,” admitted Morin. “They just have so many skilled kids.”
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