LISBON — Lisbon girls’ soccer coach Jake Gentle will be one of the first people to say how important goaltender Alexandra Sult is to his team.

On Friday against Carrabec, the Greyhounds led the hard-charging Cobras by two when Sult grabbed at her eye in pain after a collision. Sult left the game, already with 14 savee. Moments later, Carrabec cut the Lisbon lead to one and the momentum was clearly on the visitors sideline.

Re-enter Sult, with a patch just above her right eye, to the cheers of the Lisbon fans and her Greyhounds teammates. Seconds later, Deliah Schreiber scored her fourth goal of the game for a two-goal lead, and after six more saves from Sult, Lisbon had a big 4-2 win.

“Ally is a big part of the heart that we have on this team, and she is very vocal and an aggressive, strong player that is always fired up,” Gentle said. “We are really confident when she is in there. We still feel that she is the best keeper in the conference.”

“I think when I came back out, I was able to bring out positive vibes,” Sult said. “I think we all came back up and returned to the players that we all can be. My defense, they are amazing girls. I say step and they go. They know what I need and they get it done.”

Lisbon’s first half

In a first half that was mostly controlled by Carrabec’s possession game, the Greyhounds (6-4) found the back of the cage in a physical 40 minutes of soccer.

After the Cobras (5-4) fired the first three shots, Lisbon set up for a long free kick. Jasmine Le sent a high pass into the penalty area, and with Carrabec goaltender Stephanie Cossaboom (five saves) charging away from her goal line, Schreiber redirected the offering with her head and into

the vacated cage for a 1-0 lead.

Carrabec continued to out-possess Lisbon. Cobra forwards Taylor Nile, Bailey Dunphy and Katrina Mason had chances, each snuffed out by Sult, who had 10 first-half saves.

After a Cobras shot struck the post to the left of Sult, Lisbon countered. Emma Houle sent a pass to a sprinting Schreiber, who one-touched a shot past Cossaboom for a 2-0 lead with 22 minutes remaining in the opening frame. Schreiber completed her hat trick on a direct kick from just outside the Carrabec penalty area with 11:24 left on the first-half clock, slipping the shot inches above Carrabec’s five-player wall, off the cross bar and into the cage.

“Soccer is like that. A team can control possession for a good part of the game like Carrabec did, and when we get a chance up front with some girls who are pretty fast and with space, we are able to tap some in,” Gentle said.

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