WATERVILLE — It was 30 seconds into the game and Pilar Elias was already making something happen.
Sarah Shoulta had played with Elias long enough to know what was coming next. Elias passed, Shoulta scored, and Waterville led just 37 seconds into the game.
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No one could have known it at the time, but that goal held up for the final 79-plus minutes. Waterville escaped some anxious moments in the final minutes to beat Hermon 1-0 in the Eastern B girls soccer final Wednesday afternoon at Thomas College.
“I saw Pilar lift her head up,” Shoulta said, “and I saw that their defenders were flat. So when I saw Pilar, I was like, ‘She’s going to send it right over the top.’ So I sprinted behind and I got the ball, and I knew that I had enough time for just one touch. Then I just drilled it in.”
No. 1 Waterville (17-0) advances to the Class B state championship game against Western B champion Cape Elizabeth at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Deering High School. Cape defeated Greely 2-1 on penalty kicks in the Western B final on Wednesday. The Capers also edged Waterville 2-1 on penalty kicks in last year’s state final in Hampden.
Coming into the regional final, Waterville had outscored its opponents 79-0 during the regular season and 11-2 in two playoff games. The Purple Panthers didn’t dominate like that on Wednesday, and Waterville coach Ian Wilson — who lost his voice for a while in the second half while urging on his players — thought Hermon was the reason for that.
“They were an outstanding team,” Wilson said. “When you play really good teams, you’re just not going to control play the way you normally do against a team you’re significantly better than. It’s two evenly-matched teams. That’s a game that really could have gone either way.”
But one thing the Panthers had done in Friday’s semifinal against Camden Hills was alter the dynamic of the game by scoring in the first minute. They did it one more time against Hermon, as Elias hit Shoulta racing down the right side, and Shoulta’s shot got inside the left post.
“It’s pretty much what happened last time — we scored right off,” Waterville goalkeeper Gabi Martin said. “They just had combinations and played out really well.”
The scoring chances were spaced out the rest of the half. Claire Petersen had some nice rushes for Hermon, and Waterville had a nice sequence in the final minute that went Fotini Shanos to Elias to Lydia Roy, before Hermon booted the ball out of bounds and time ran out in the middle of a Waterville corner kick.
“It’s frustrating, because we don’t feel that we played our best,” Hermon coach MJ Ball said. “When we played the ball to feet, and played to our strengths, we were very good. When we just started kicking it, we really struggled. You can’t not play for 80 minutes, and expect to get a result. It is frustrating. We’ll learn from it.”
Martin made a tough play 3:17 into the second half when she dove forward to catch a cross by Petersen. Waterville countered with a great attempt off a corner with about 24 minutes left. Hermon keeper Hailey Perry batted away a header by Elias, and Deanna Phipps booted the rebound off the goal line.
The Panthers had nine straight corners at one point, and a 14-4 edge in corners with five minutes left in the game. Still, they had the feeling the game wasn’t over.
“I was expecting them to get enough anger, and their seniors to really become emotional, really want it,” Shoulta said. “I think that we were all anticipating that moment, and when it came time, we kind of fell apart — but at the same time, we managed to survive that one push on us.”
That moment nearly came with 2:25 to play, but Phipps lost her footing while setting up a shot. Instead, it came with under 90 seconds left, and Petersen on the sidelines with an injury. Hermon had a corner kick from the left side, and there was a scramble.
“I knew I had people behind me,” Martin said. “I was pretty comfortable. I was in position. I was just ready for whatever came.”
What came was a shot that boomeranged off the crossbar and back on the field. Hermon sophomore Brianna Saulter got another shot, and this one bounced off the crossbar, then crawled over it and out of play.
“I saw it go over the crossbar, and I was just hoping that one bounce was going to bring it over,” Martin said, “and that happened at the end.”
It was only the second time this season a team finished within two goals of Waterville. The Panthers will likely be in the same situation on Saturday.
“I think it was good for us to be in a close game,” Wilson said. “I knew this would be a very close game either way. I think the girls knew it, because they know a lot of the players on this team. So I think they were emotionally prepared to be in a very close game. That’s exactly what it was.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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