AUBURN, Maine — Bangor struck while the iron was hot Tuesday in its 4-1 victory over Edward Little in a Class A North girls soccer contest.
Bangor goaltender Alexis LeBreton made two key saves midway through the first half while her team was clinging to a one-goal lead — one on a breakaway and another was on a Piper Norcross free kick from the top of the box — and gave her team the chance to respond.
LeBreton made six saves in the contest as Bangor improved to 5-2-1.
“She’s been one of the strengths all year and she’s been playing really, really well,” Bangor coach Joe Johnson said. “Making plays she should and some plays that are really tough. We are really impressed with the way she’s been playing right now.”
When LeBreton was substituted late in the game, Edward Little coach Craig Latuscha gave her a high-five as she made her way to her side of the sideline.
“Unfortunately we didn’t have the first half as we wanted,” Latuscha said. “It was a hot day, we don’t want to make it an excuse because they played in it as well. They made a great play on a corner kick for the first goal. We made another great play when it was 1-0, but their goalkeeper made two or three key saves. A really nice one with her foot, that could have tied the game at 1-1.”
In a blink of an eye, it was a 3-0 lead as Libby Spekhardt and Maddie Cormier found the back of the net.
Spekhart used her speed in the midfield to chase down a through ball. It was her and Red Eddies goalkeeper Taylor Depot. Spekhardt was able to beat Depot to the ball for the wide open goal. Cormier booted a ball past Depot for her tally.
Depot was busy, making 11 saves on the afternoon for the Red Eddies (3-4-1) .
“When you shut something down like that and score on the other end, that has happened to us a few times over the years,” Johnson said. “That’s hard to recover from when you make a good play up front and you don’t get anything out of it. Then someone actually attacks the other way and gets a goal, it’s deflating at times.”
The lead was stretched to 4-0 before the half when Eliza Jansujwicz notched her second of the game.
“They work together very well,” Johnson said of Jansujwicz and Spekhardt. “They both have great skills and speed. They are hard to match when they are playing well together.”
Jansujwicz’s first goal came 13:45 into the contest, when she found some space in the box after a corner kick.
“I just saw a little bit of space in the box, I was trying to get myself in an area where I could get a foot on the ball,” Jansujwicz said. “It came to me by a little bit of the luck and I was able to put it in.”
Norcross got some redemption in the second half after LeBreton stonewalled her in the first half. She was awarded a penalty kick and made no doubt about it 15:11 into the second half.
Latuscha said his team had six or seven great offensive opportunities in the game.
“I liked the fact our soccer family didn’t give up,” Latuscha said. “We didn’t give up, we continued to fight being down 4-0 where we could have just rolled over. I think we continued to fight hard, we got one which was positive to make it 4-1. I think we could have gotten more.”