SOUTH CHINA — A young and improving Winslow girls soccer team registered its most important win to date Saturday, knocking off unbeaten Erskine Academy on its home field.
The Black Raiders scored a goal in each half en route to the 2-0 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B victory. Winslow is 3-2-1 while Erskine falls to 4-1-1.
Freshman Ashley Quirion headed in a a ball in the first half while the Eagles scored an own goal in the second half, credited to Winslow junior Lidia Santos.
“This is a huge win for us,” said Veronica Rossignol, one of two seniors on Winslow’s roster. “We just had a really hard time last game and we knew we had to come out and play as a team and play united.”
Erskine goalkeeper Caitlin Labbe (five saves) made a juggling save of Quirion’s point blank shot five minutes into the game. But six minutes later Quirion beat her on a goal set up by Hailey Grenier’s cross from the right side.
“My friend was passing it in and I thought I’m going head this one, I’m going to do it,” Quirion said. “And it went off the left side of my head and into the goal. I was just really excited about that.”
The Eagles are still reeling from the loss of their best player, junior Kaylee Porter, who was injured recently.
Both teams had scoring chances in the first half. Grenier missed an open net with 16:30 left, then six minutes later Erskine’s Haymanot Maynard did the same. The Eagles and their quick front line were whistled for several offside violations throughout the game.
“Their offside trap and their goalie got us today,” Erskine coach Ryan Nored said. “They played a great game and they converted when they needed to.”
Black Raiders goalkeeper Broghan Gagnon finished with nine saves, including back-to-back beauties against Erskine’s Hunter Hoague late in the first half.
“She was aggressive,” Winslow coach Steve Bodge said. “Teams that play the ball over the top, you’ve got to pick those spots when you’re going to come out and not come out. She’s a smart kid.”
The Eagles came out strong in the second half and controlled play for the first six minutes, but the Raiders cashed in with 33:25 left when a pass bounced off an Erskine defender and just over the goal line as Labbe dove for the ball.
Gagnon and sophomore sweeper Maeghan Bernard took care of the rest. Bernard ran down several plays when it looked as if Erskine would have breakaways.
“Desiree (Veilleux) has played the last two or three games at sweeper for us,” Bodge said. “She pulled up a little sore with her hamstring so we had to rotate Maeghan back and Maeghan played great in the back. She started out last year as a freshman playing 70-80 minutes a game and she plays every minute of every game this year.”
The Eagles had their last best scoring chance with 13:40 left when Jordan Jowett beat a defender and broke in alone on Gagnon, who came way out of her goal to smother the kick.
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