One controls the middle of the field.
The other dominates the flank.
Junior center midfielder Emmie Streams and junior right wing Anna Connors are two of the primary reasons the Bangor High School girls soccer team will be playing for the Class A North championship against a very good Brunswick High School team that rallied to eliminate defending four-time state champ Camden Hills 2-1 in the semifinals.
Bangor topped Messalonskee of Oakland 2-0 in their semifinal.
Top seed Bangor, 16-0, and third seed Brunswick, 14-2, will square off on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Messalonskee High School field.
The tireless Streams is dynamic in the midfield. She is one of the team’s leading scorers along with Devon St. Louis, and she is a play-maker who sets her teammates up with her passes who is also a valuable help to the defense.
She is tenacious on the ball and wins a ton of 50-50 battles. If she loses the ball, she is likely to regain it very quickly.
“I am very competitive. I don’t like to lose in any sport,” said Streams, who is the starting point guard on the basketball team and the catcher for the softball team.
Streams admits she didn’t expect to score as many goals as she has.
“My role is more about setting people up. But after we lost Riley Andrews, somebody had to step up,” Streams said.
She said she has focused on improving her first touch on the ball so she can better control it and she has also worked on the placement of her shots and passes.
Streams feels she has improved and credits her teammates for it.
“Playing with better people has pushed me to be better and to work harder,” Streams said.
She added that she enjoys being involved on the defensive side of the ball, also.
Connors, the state’s Class A 200 meter champ in outdoor track, stretches defenses with her dashes down the right wing and her speed and skill produce scoring chances for herself and her teammates.
“I’ve become more physical. My freshman year, I got bumped off the ball a lot,” Connors said. “I’ve gotten stronger as I’ve grown. I know how to avoid some contact and create room to cut back and find space for shots and crosses.”
She said she has also developed a connection with Streams and other teammates who play in the middle.
“We’re connecting and finding those through balls to each other. Emmie and I work give-and-gos. That’s one of our strong suits,” said Connors, who is the only Ram with more than one goal in their two playoff wins. She has scored a pair of goals.
Both have played together for several years and appreciate each other’s abilities.
“Anna is a great player. She’s a very good teammate. It has been nice working with her for so many years,” said Streams.
Connors said Streams “keeps the center of the field very locked in and focused.”
Bangor coach Andrew Varisco said the two have “great attitudes and work ethics” to go with their exceptional skill.
The Rams have received goals from five different players in their two playoff wins, which exhibits the team’s balance and depth.
Varisco, Connors and Streams said they will have a formidable opponent in Martyn Davison’s Brunswick Dragons, who have a variety of skillful players including senior Molly Taub and freshman Alexis Morin.
Brunswick led Bangor 2-0 in their regular season meeting before Bangor rallied for a 3-2 win.
“They’re very fast and very physical and they play very well together,” Connors said. “So our defense is going to have to step up.”
Meanwhile at the Hampden Academy field on Wednesday, the 16-0 Hermon High School girls will seek a second straight Class B North title against the upstart 7-10 Mount Desert Island High School Trojans, a 10th seed that hasn’t allowed a goal in three playoff wins.
Game time is also at 4 p.m.
The Class B regional final features a Hermon team that had a pair of 30-goal scorers in Sydney Gallop and Lyndsee Reed against an MDI team that has been resurgent since the return of senior goalkeeper Sabine Costello-Sanders from injury.
Costello-Sanders played the last two games of the regular season and all three playoff games and led her team to playoff upsets of No. 7 Belfast (3-0), No. 2 Old Town (1-0) and No. 3 Ellsworth (1-0).
Hermon won the regular season meetings 9-0 and 6-1 but Costello-Sanders didn’t play in either game.
Hermon has scored 98 goals and given up nine in its 16 games.
Hermon has other weapons besides school all-time scoring leader Gallop and the hard-working Reed, including midfielder Michaela Saulter. Madi Higgins anchors the defense.
MDI features talented and influential midfielder Lelia Weir and backs Kaleena Higgins and Hanna Ford.