There’s been a whole lot of talk about the Oxford Hills girls’ soccer team this fall. That hasn’t happened in long time.

After going 2-10-2 last year, the Vikings went 7-3-4 and earned the No. 3 seed in Eastern Class A. All the while, they’ve generated quite a buzz around town.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster for us and the program,” Oxford Hills coach Cortney Sirois said. “I can’t tell you how many comments I’ve gotten personally and the girls have gotten the whole season about how well they’ve been playing. It’s nice to see Oxford Hills soccer back where it should be.”

Sirois is just in her second year with a program that hasn’t been to the tournament in half a dozen years. It’s been a long drought for the Vikings. The team was hoping to make some strides this fall, but this club made a giant leap. As a result, the Vikings will host a quarterfinal game next Tuesday against Mt. Blue.

“We had a key nucleus of returning players that came back,” Sirois said. “Then we had kids that didn’t play last year come back to play and they really helped out.”

The Vikings scrimmaged Greely on Tuesday and got a pretty good test. That could be a good tune-up for the postseason against a Cougar team that finished 8-5-1 and ended the season with five consecutive wins.

“This year’s seniors have taken control more than last year’s seniors did,” Sirois said. “They’ve gotten everyone to want to get to the next level and want to compete with the top teams in Maine, which is nice to see.”

Mt. Blue reached the quarterfinals last year but lost in the first round. The Cougars improved upon last year’s record and has been playing some of its best soccer down the stretch.

In Western Class B, Leavitt returns to the postseason with the fourth spot with an 8-3-3 record. Leavitt replaced a ton of talent and still earned a home quarterfinal against Maranacook, which beat the Hornets 2-1 earlier in the year.

“I always remind the girls to always stay hungry and never take it for granted,” Leavitt coach Chris Cifelli said. “It’s really hard to get there, even with the expanded playoffs.”

Two local clubs seeing prelim action this weekend are Spruce Mountain (7-7) and Poland (5-9). The Phoenix host Lake Region on Friday at 3 p.m. while the Knights, which have won three of its last five games to reach the tourney, play at Freeport at 3 p.m. Freeport won the regular-season meeting, 2-0.

In Western Class C, unbeaten Dirigo took the top spot. The Cougars (12-0-2) had its entire defense returning and it showed. Dirigo, which lost to Madison in the MVC championship Thursday,  allowed seven goals. They had plenty of experience up front as well, scoring 47 goals.

St. Dom’s (11-3), last year’s top seed, finished fourth and will host Lisbon (10-3-1) in next week’s quarterfinal. The Greyhounds lost to the Saints, 2-1, earlier in the year.

“Coming into the year, we were hoping to be in the top four or five,” Lisbon coach Jake Gentle said. “I think we played well this year. We’ve had some games we thought we should have won but didn’t. There’s probably a game we stole that we shouldn’t have. So that’s the way it goes. I think we’re pretty happy where we are, and the playoffs are a new season.”

Mt. Abram (7-6-1) hosts Monmouth (7-7) in a preliminary matchup Friday at 3:30 p.m.  for the opportunity to play at Dirigo next week. The Roadrunners beat the Mustangs 1-0.

In Western Class D, Rangeley (4-6-2) earned the fourth seed and will play top-ranked Richmond in the semifinals. The Bobcats won both previous games, 5-1 and 5-0.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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