LISBON — The Lisbon and Wiscasset girls soccer teams came into Monday’s Mountain Valley Conference high school matchup stinging from lopsided setbacks to undefeated Monmouth Academy.

Looking to rebound, both squads battled hard in an evenly played 1-1 deadlock, giving the Greyhounds a 3-1-2 mark and the Wolverines a 3-3-1 record.

“I think we are pretty evenly matched, and both teams had a lot of opportunities, including quite a few breakaways,” said Lisbon coach Brian Dube. “We are still recovering from the Monmouth game. It was a tough one for us.”

The scoring occurred over a five-minute span late in the opening half. Wiscasset’s Grace Webber was fouled on her path toward the Lisbon goal, resulting in a Wolverines penalty kick with 7:38 on the clock. Gabby Chapman sent a shot just inside the left post past the dive of Greyhound goalkeeper Ali Sult (nine saves) for a 1-0 lead.

“I thought we possessed the ball quite a bit in the first half and had great pressure on the goal,” said Wiscasset coach Duane Goud.

“One of the biggest things we did poorly in the first half was being too aggressive on defense, and it cost us a bit,” said Dube. “They had quite a few free kicks. It was a rough game.”

Back came Lisbon. A long throw-in from Sydney Douglass bounced around in front of Wiscasset goaltender Lindsey Gordon. A fortunate bounce led to the ball landing at the feet of Greyhound Kiley Merritt, who calmly slipped a shot into the back of the cage with 2:56 left until halftime for a 1-1 deadlock.

“I didn’t think the ball was going to come to me, but suddenly it was there and I gave it my all and got by her hands,” said Merritt of her game-tying goal. “This was big for us. We needed to bounce back.”

The first-half shots were dead even at six apiece, and through the first 20 minutes of the second frame, both teams had registered 10 shots.

That is when Lisbon took over. A handball led to a penalty kick for Lisbon. Giana Russo launched a shot, but Gordon dove to her left to make a big save to keep the game even.

“Penalty kicks are the worst part of soccer, but I thought we got a pretty good kick back after that save. I felt pretty good,” said Gordon.

“The second half I felt was a bit more even, and Lindsey made that great save on the penalty kick and other saves. She put herself into great positions. She stepped up when she needed to,” said Goud.

Gordon made another solid stop late in regulation, turning aside hard-charging Jasmin Le with six seconds remaining.

In the first five-minute overtime, Sult made a diving save on Webber, and Gordon aggressively stepped away from her goal line and stopped a Lisbon run to send the contest to a second overtime period.

Lisbon had another chance to end it when a Douglass flip throw bounced dangerously in front of Gordon’s cage before the keeper dug it out from the pile.

“We got peppered in the second half after losing a couple players to injuries,” said Gordon, who had 13. “This result boosts our confidence.”

“We came into this game reeling after getting run over at Monmouth, so I was hoping for a pick up here. A tie is definitely better than a loss,” said Goud.

Lisbon finished with an 18-12 shot advantage. Wiscasset controlled corner kicks 7-4.

Next up comes Thursday road games for both teams, with the Wolverines visiting Mountain Valley and the Greyhounds heading to Winthrop.

Copy the Story Link