When Craig Latuscha arrived at school recently, he was surprised to see himself.

His Edward Little girls’ soccer team had all chosen to dress like him and carry a enlarged mug shot of him on a stick as a mask. They  each finished off the ensemble with a name tag – with his name on it.

He was a little taken aback at first but quickly became impressed with his players creativity and ability to do something like this as a team.

“If they’re really willing to do that for their coach, that must mean something,” said Latuscha. “It was a pretty good thing.”

His team has done a lot of things together, whether it be team dinners, outings or working to raise money to fight cancer. Those group activities seem to be paying off. Entering Friday’s game with Brunswick, EL had won three straight and four out of its last five. The Red Eddies had even bounced up as high as seventh in the Eastern A standings.

“They’ve really bonded together as a team very well,” said Latuscha, whose team lost to Brunswick and finishes the year against Mt. Ararat on Tuesday. “They’re gelling well. They seem like they like each other. Team bonding goes a long way on the field and off the field.”

Play-in game

The playoff hopes for the Lewiston girls’ soccer team likely come down to Tuesday’s game at Brunswick. The Blue Devils will need to win or tie the unbeaten Dragons to move up from 12th in the standings.

“I think we’re one of the only teams that has come close to beating Brunswick,” said Lewiston coach Butch Down. “We lost 3-2.”

The Dragons have outscored opponents 55-13 this season and have posted five shutouts. Bangor and Hampden each lost by a goal, 2-1 and 4-3 respectively. When Lewiston gave Brunswick a battle earlier in the year, the Dragons were without their top player Paige Tetu.

After a 3-0 win over Oxford Hills, the Blue Devils take a little bit of confidence and a nothing to lose attitude down to Brunswick. They hope a similar defensive effort and some opportunistic scoring can give them a chance. Defender Sam Cote did a wonderful job shadowing Viking midfielder Mikayla Morin while Mariah Carrier had two goals in Thursday’s win. Lex Jimenez has been outstanding in net as well for Lewiston.

“I’m hoping we can do the same thing against Paige that we did against Oxford Hills and take her out of the game,” said Dow. “Hopefully, that could neutralize some of their offense.”

Back on track

After starting the year 3-0-1, Mt. Blue had a stretch in which it went 1-5, losing heartbreakers to Waterville in overtime and one-goal games to Hampden and Cony.

With a 5-0 win over Messalonskee, a 5-1 victory over Lewiston and an 8-0 win over Skowhegan, the Cougars are gaining some steam down the stretch.

“I made some changes after we had that losing spell,” said Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue. “Things weren’t working well enough. I had to try some things. I tried some formations and different personnel.”

The Cougars appear to be playing well  and are trying to secure their playoff spot. They finish the year Tuesday with Erskine, a team that Mt. Blue tied earlier in the year.

Despite their recent wins, Mt. Blue had actually dropped down to ninth in Eastern A entering the weekend.

“It’s unfortunate we lost some games,” said Conlogue. “That loss in the second overtime with Waterville hurt because we’d be in fourth if we’d tied that. We lost to Hampden 1-0 in a 30 mile-per-hour rain storm.”

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