HAMPDEN, Maine — The Bangor High School girls soccer team proved to be resilient against archrival Hampden Academy on Thursday night, erasing a pair of one-goal deficits to earn a hard-fought 2-2 overtime tie courtesy of second-half goals by Mary Butler and Sarah Bragg.
Junior goalie Emily Gilmore atoned for a mistake on Kerry Quigley’s go-ahead goal late in the second half by racing off her line in overtime to rob Quigley on a break-in.
Talented Bronco sophomore midfielder Melissa Reichel scored the only goal in the first half.
Both teams are 1-0-1.
Senior left midfielder Quigley broke the 1-1 tie with just 10:47 remaining when she took a pass from Emily Colter, maneuvered to the top of the penalty area and took a seemingly harmless shot that rolled between the arms of Gilmore.
“I didn’t expect it to go in. But when the turf is real slick like this, it is tough for the goalies to stop anything,” said Quigley. “So we just wanted to shoot, shoot, shoot.”
But Bragg equalized 4:25 later off a corner kick by Ally Boulier as she drilled a 12-yarder past helpless Bronco goalie Eliza Eastman from the middle of the crowded penalty area.
“It was a great corner by Ally,” said junior right back Bragg. “It may have gone off a Hampden player to me. No one was on me. I stopped it and kicked it in.”
“I was just trying to get it in front of the net. We have good people who use their bodies and heads in there. Sarah went for it [and put it in]. It was awesome,” said Boulier.
Quigley had the best chance in overtime when she freed herself down the left flank and broke in alone on Gilmore.
Gilmore scrambled out and got her hands and chest on the 14-yard shot.
“I just saw that she had gotten by a defender and was wide open, so I knew I had to come out,” said Gilmore who added that the Quigley goal was “all my fault.”
Quigley gave credit to Gilmore for her save.
“I couldn’t have shot it any sooner. I was just waiting for the right footing,” said Quigley. “I thought I had the angle. Props to her. She made a good save.”
The wet artificial surface made it very difficult for the Rams and Broncos to control the ball and string together passes. Bangor had the edge in possession, but the Broncos’ quickness created problems for Bangor on counter attacks.
Reichel gave Hampden the lead late just after Bangor, in a gesture of good sportsmanship, had purposely kicked the ball out of bounds so athletic trainer Phil Mateja could attend to the injured Quigley.
Instead of throwing the ball in to Bangor as is the common courtesy after the sportsmanship gesture, Hampden threw it in to themselves and, 36 seconds later, Abby Lord fed it to Reichel, who burst free and slipped the ball past Gilmore’s right side.
However, Bangor did not seem to be caught by surprise by Hampden’s throw-in.
Butler equalized with 17:10 left in the second half when Maddi Cormier raced on to a nice diagonal pass from Emma Barnett and crossed it to Butler from the right wing. Butler ran onto it and directed the bouncing ball home with her thigh.
Gilmore finished with four saves on 14 shots and Eastman made seven on 17 shots.
“Hampden competed hard. We responded well, and I was happy that we rallied twice and fought,” said senior Butler.
“I was very proud of our team,” said Hampden Academy first-year coach Ruth Lyons. “They played with intensity, and they were aggressive.”