GARDINER — Washington Academy’s speed came to the forefront in the second half of its Class B North quarterfinal game Tuesday against fourth-seeded Gardiner.
Trailing by a goal at halftime, the fifth-seeded Raiders scored twice in the second half while not allowing the Tigers a shot on goal en route to a 2-1 victory.
Washington (11-5) will play top-seeded Caribou in a semifinal game Saturday while Gardiner ends one of its more successful seasons of late at 11-4-1.
“We’ve been playing together 12 or 13 years,” said Gardiner senior Casey Bourque, who scored the team’s goal. “It’s like our one last game together.”
The Raiders missed a number of good scoring chances in the first half but couldn’t put a ball past the Tiger defense and goalie Tim Doyle (seven saves). Doyle made a couple of nice saves off Washington senior Khiari Sharrieff-Hayward, then got some help from his defense, which saved two shots when he was drawn away from the goal.
Jakub Figel scored the game-winner on a strong individual effort with 11:53 left to play. He gained possession following a battle with two Gardiner defenders and beat one of them along the baseline, drawing Doyle out of his net.
“I just got the ball and beat one player,” Figel said. “I saw a small space on the right side of the goal and just put it in. It was kind of lucky.”
“I lovingly refer to him as the fastest man on the planet,” Raiders coach Chris Gardner added of Figel. “He has got tremendous speed to the outside.”
Figel nearly scored the game’s first goal with a similar move but his shot caromed off the crossbar. The Tigers took the lead on Bourque’s goal, his 19th of the season, with 12:54 left in the half on a corner kick. Senior Cam Babcock served the ball to the far post and Bourque timed his jump and the ball past Raiders keeper Sam Perkins (three saves).
“Cam’s been putting in good corners all year and I just got on the end of that,” Bourque said.
In addition to its strong senior group, the Tigers got nice work in the back from sophomore Tucker Boudreau and junior Logan Keene.
“I knew who they had for players and I thought in the first half we executed very well,” Gardiner coach Nic Wallace said. “In the second half, they came out with a little more intensity than we had. This team never stops battling, we always play to the end.”
The Raiders dominated field position in the second half and tied the score just under four minutes in. Sharrieff-Hayward beat a defender along the end line and fired a hard shot that Doyle saved. The rebound, however, went to junior Dessie Tinsaye, who hit the ball into an open side.
“At times I like to think we’re relentless at the net,” Gardner said. “But we struggle in actually finishing. We’re really good from 18 to 18, but from the 18 in sometimes we struggle. Their keeper played a great game today. Everything we gave to him he was in the right spot at the right time.”
With help from senior Vincente Morali Reci and Che Lindo, Washington kept the Tigers pinned in their own end most of the half. The Raiders reached the Class B North final last year, losing to Winslow, but returned only three or four starters from that group.
“This is kind of a reset on the team,” Gardner said. “A lot of the JV guys that have been in the program stepped up and are filling big roles.”
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