By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

When the season began, the Mt. Blue girls’ soccer team was hoping this day would arrive.

After winning two games last year, the Cougars were seeking improvement. Mt. Blue only had a losing record once during the year and finished 6-6-2, earning a non-open tournament playoff berth for the first time since 2000.

The Cougars play at Hampden Academy as girls’ soccer teams around the state play preliminary games today.

“It’s a dramatic improvement,” said Mt. Blue coach Dave Ronald. “Change is a progress, not an event. You need to transition to get continually better, and I think we’ve done that this year. We started out 2-0 and the girls, right off the bat, realized it was a different year.”

Ronald says when his club tied Messalonskee early in the year, it was a sure sign that the Cougars believed in the program and themselves.

“We were down at Messalonskee and they were the No. 1 team in the Heals Points at the time,” said Ronald. “We had them 1-0 with seven minutes left. We went to double overtime and hit the crossbar. I think the girls realized then that we can do this.”

After losing 4-0 at Hampden, the Cougars have a chance to redeem themselves. Ronald has tempted his kids with the thought of a third crack at Messalonskee in the quarterfinals, a club Mt. Blue had one of its best outings against last week in a narrow loss.

“We actually played one of our worst games of the year (at Hampden),” said Ronald. “Getting that draw is actually probably one of the better ones. If we beat Hampden, we get Messalonskee. “

Both Lewiston and Edward Little are hosting prelim games today. Lewiston (10-2-2), who narrowly missed a bye by finishing fourth, hosts 13th-ranked Lawrence. EL (8-4-2) took the eighth spot and hosts Erskine.

No. 11 Oxford Hills travels to No. 6 Waterville.

In Class C, fifth-seeded Dirigo (9-3-2) and fourth-ranked Mt. Abram (11-2-1) each earned byes and play each other in Friday’s quarterfinal. Sixth-ranked Winthrop (9-3-2) and seventh-ranked Monmouth (6-5-3) each host prelim games. The Ramblers entertain Madison, while Monmouth welcomes Hall-Dale. Ninth-seeded St. Dom’s (8-5-1) plays at Wiscasset.

In Class B, the Lisbon girls took fifth to earn a bye. The Greyhounds (8-3-3) will play at York in the quarterfinals. Ninth-ranked Mountain Valley (2-9-3) plays a prelim against Lincoln at Erskine Academy.

Boys’ tournament

Mt. Blue won’t be the only squad with a lengthy trip for a prelim. The 10th-ranked Mt. Abram boys (6-6-2) travel to Kittery on Wednesday to take on Traip.

“Our luck has been so bad this year,” said Mt. Abram coach Darren Allen. “We’d dominate a game and still lose, and that’s happened a few times. Then the farthest possible destination, and we get it.”

Mt. Abram, which went to the Western C final last year, has been blessed with home-field advantage in past seasons.

“Now the shoe is on the other foot, and we have to be like our mascot’s name – Roadrunners,” said Allen. “I was kind of hoping we’d sneak up to ninth with our last two wins, but it didn’t happen.”

Traip battled the likes of St. Dom’s, NYA and Waynflete in the regular season and play more of a ball control style, but Allen says his kids have seen that enough in recent years and hopes they can be prepared.

“You hear the MVC is inferior to the WMC,” said Allen. “It is and it isn’t. They have their years and we have ours. We can compete with that. We just have to work on it in practice.”

Second-ranked Monmouth (11-2-1) and fifth-seeded Telstar (10-4) earned a pass through the prelims in Western C. 11th-ranked St. Dom’s (6-7-1) play at Hall-Dale, where the Saints beat the Bulldogs 3-0 in the semifinals in 2002.

In Class A, Mt. Blue, Lewiston and EL host boys’ prelim games Wednesday. The eighth-ranked Cougars (8-5-1) host Lawrence. Sixth-seeded Lewiston (10-3-1) meets Brewer while EL, ranked seventh at 7-5-2, hosts Erskine.

In Class B, sixth-ranked Lisbon (8-5-1) skips the prelims but eighth-ranked Mountain Valley (6-7-1) hosts Lake Region.