ROCKPORT, Maine — Camden Hills dictated play for much of Wednesday afternoon, but it was Bangor that found a way to make the decisive plays.
Maddi Cormier snuck a shot under Windjammers goalkeeper Isabelle Lang with 29.5 seconds remaining, lifting the Rams to a resilient 3-2 victory in the Class A North championship game at Don Palmer Field.
“You could tell they were getting tired, but they played with some grit,” said coach Joe Johnson, whose No. 2 Rams (14-1-2) will play the South champ Gorham in Saturday’s state game at 10 a.m. in Portland.
“We had come so far and we didn’t want to give up, so it just took everything we had. We left it all out there,” said junior forward Katie Butler, whose tenacity helped spearhead the resurgence.
Top-seeded Camden Hills (15-1-1), which won the regular-season meeting 4-1, had more numerous and higher-quality scoring chances, but was shut out in the second half.
“We’ve always been a really aggressive defense, but we played a little bit softer today, trying to give a little cushion on those longer balls and I think we did a great job,” said coach Meredith Messer.
The ‘Jammers outshot the Rams 11-6. Their dangerous forwards and midfielders, led by Bryn Anderson, Emma Gutheinz, Eliza Roy and Charlotte Messer, put pressure aplenty on the Rams.
However, Emily Gilmore made six saves and a back line led by Maeve Harrigan, Bella Varisco, Lauren Young and Maddie Symonds tightened up as the game wore on.
“We had to work hard and make sure we knew where their scoring players were. I think we did a good job of that,” Harrigan said.
Trailing 2-1, Bangor equalized after sustaining pressure in the Camden end. Harrigan hammered a corner kick into the middle, where the 6-foot-2 Butler chested it into the goal with 16:48 to play.
“We’ve spent a lot of time working on that, so it was pretty nice to see one of them go in,” Harrigan said.
Lang, who replaced junior standout Jana Speiker (bruised kidney) in her first varsity start, later made a save on a similar play. Eliza Roy headed another corner ball out of the box late.
“We got the corners as a result of (Butler’s) effort. That just shows you what kind of competitor she is,” Johnson said.
Bangor’s persistence paid off as Butler battled for a ball near the sideline on which defender Claire Pierce slipped and fell.
“There was less than a minute left, so I knew that I had to get it in the box and hope that someone got there and, luckily, Maddi did,” Butler said.
Butler’s pass found Cormier who gathered it, made a quick move to her left and squeezed a shot under Lang with 29.5 left.
“I just turned and took a shot on net,” Cormier said. “I was like, this is my left (foot), I don’t know if it’s going to be good or not. It was pretty good, I guess.”
Butler, Grace Morris, Sarah Bragg, Megan Conner, Libby Spekhardt and Luci Clein provided energy and hustle to help turn the tide.
Camden Hills grabbed the lead 10:03 into the game when Anderson got behind the defense off a pass from Gutheinz and beat Gilmore low to her left from 6 yards out.
Bangor tied it 8:37 later when Morris pounded a 25-yard chip that ricocheted off the crossbar, down off a defender and in.
The ’Jammers went back in front six minutes later as Gutheinz’s perfectly placed through-ball sent the speedy Anderson in for a breakaway goal.
NOTE: Bangor junior center midfielder Megan Conner was inadvertently omitted from the original version of this story.