It wasn’t easy, but the Orono High School boys soccer team kept an undefeated season alive Wednesday night and advanced to the semifinal round of the Class C North playoffs.
The top ranked Red Riots won 3-1 over a No. 8 Maine Central Institute team that just wouldn’t go quietly Wednesday night in Orono.
The Huskies headed into Wednesday night’s quarterfinal playoff game as heavy underdogs at the bottom of the Class C North standing with a 3-11 record. But they gave Orono a first-round scare by sticking with the undefeated home team for much of the contest.
Though Orono notched an early goal on a successful penalty kick from junior defender Micah Olsen, strong goalkeeping by MCI’s Seth Jones and a dangerous Huskies counterattack kept the visitors in reach.
The MCI junior Miles Rogers tied it with around 24 minutes left in the second half on a well-placed shot that caught the post and beat Orono goalie Matthew Allen.
It seemed like an upset might be in the works as momentum briefly shifted toward the Huskies. But as he has done often this season, Orono junior forward Dominic Madore found the back of the net to put the Red Riots back up 2-1 just two minutes later.
MCI remained threatening with its counterattack, but the relentless Orono offense would not be denied.
Jones made another impressive save to spoil what would have been a spectacular goal by Orono freshman midfielder Ty Tweedie. But there was nothing the MCI goalie could do to stop Orono’s Mustafa Kallah from putting home a third goal for the Red Riots, and putting the game away with about 7 minutes left.
Orono moves to 14-0-1 on the season and will now face fifth seeded Washington Academy on Saturday in the next round of the playoffs.