BANGOR, Maine — Junior Alexis LeBreton is a first-year starter for the Bangor High School girls soccer team. She played a huge role in the Rams’ come-from-behind 2-2 overtime tie with defending state Class A champ Camden Hills in a makeup game Thursday night.
LeBreton saved Kaylyn Krul’s penalty kick with 3:55 remaining in the second overtime and she came up with a nice stop on Lexi Heidorn en route to a 14-save evening.
Both teams are now 1-0-1.
Junior midfielder Kassie Krul staked Camden Hills to a 1-0 lead just 5:11 into the game but Bangor sophomore midfielder Eliza Jansujwicz equalized with 42.2 seconds left in the half.
Sophomore forward Kristina Kelly restored the lead for the Windjammers early in the second half then Bangor freshman back Riley Andrews tied it with four minutes left off a Bella Varisco corner kick.
In the second overtime, Bangor committed a foul in the penalty area but LeBreton dove to her left to push Krul’s penalty kick away.
“Her hips were slightly to my left so I knew that’s where she would try to kick the ball in,” said LeBreton.
“She guessed my side. That’s good goalkeeping,” said Kaylyn Krul. “I tried to stare her down.”
“She played a phenomenal game. She’ll remember it for a long time,” said Varisco.
“She has come a long way from last year. I’m really proud of her,” said Bangor coach Joe Johnson.
The game between the last two state champs — Bangor won the 2015 title — was a contrast in styles. The Windjammers featured a multiple-pass possession game while the Rams were more direct, lofting long balls for speedsters like Libby Spekhardt, Maddie Cormier and Jansujwicz to run onto.
Kassie Krul opened the scoring by taking a pass from Camryn Langille at the top of the penalty area and precisely curling her shot inside the far post to the right of the diving LeBreton.
Both teams had plenty of chances over the first 40 minutes and the opportunistic Jansujwicz carved out the equalizer with her hustle.
Camden Hills made a long back pass to goalie Izzy Lang and Jansujwicz confronted her. Lang’s kick glanced off the sprawling Jansujwicz and landed in the penalty area. Jansujwicz got back to her feet, tracked the ball down and slid a 10-yarder with her left foot into the vacated goal.
Kelly used her skills and nifty feet to make it 2-1 as she took a Kassie Krul pass, cleverly maneuvered across the crowded goalmouth until she gained some separation and pulled the ball around LeBreton before slipping it home.
Cormier had a break-in down the right side but her potential equalizer rolled wide of the far post. MacKenzie Lambert nearly tied it only to have her redirection miss the net from eight yards out.
LeBreton and senior back Maddie Symonds kept the Rams within one during a wild sequence later in the half.
LeBreton steered Eliza Roy’s shot onto the crossbar and when the ball dropped directly in front of the goal, Symonds cleared it away.
Bangor drew level when Varisco’s corner was deflected across the goalmouth by Cormier and Andrews diverted it in.
“Bella put it right on point and Maddie got a good touch on it,” said Andrews. “It hit my hip or my stomach. I don’t know. It happened so far.”
“I knew we had a lot of people in the box so I tried to put it in low so someone could deflect it,” said Varisco.
LeBreton faced 21 shots while Lang made five saves on 15 shots.
“That’s one of the best regular-season games I’ve been a part of,” said Johnson. “It felt like a playoff game, to be honest. Both teams played well.”
Camden Hills coach Meredith Messer said she was pleased with parts of the game, “especially in the second half when we applied better pressure. We had some nice opportunities but we didn’t capitalize.”
JV: Camden Hills 6-3