Bangor girls soccer team dominates Mt. Ararat
Sep. 18—The Bangor High School girls soccer team was completely dominating play in the first half of its Class A North game against a depleted Mt. Ararat team from Topsham, but the Rams hadn't been able to parlay that dominance into a goal or even a quality scoring chance.
Junior midfielder Emmie Streams changed that with a terrific individual effort late in the first half and sophomore Oliva Scott scored a similar goal 5:27 later to lead the Rams to a 3-0 win over the Eagles at the Bangor High Field Friday night.
Freshman Teagan Atherley added a late second-half goal as Bangor improved to 3-0 while Mt. Ararat fell to 3-1-1.
Mt. Ararat was missing seven players including five starters due to injury and the Rams wasted little time establishing their superiority. The Eagles started five freshmen.
The Rams had the lion's share of possession in the first half but the Eagles defended well until Streams took matters into her own hands to break the scoreless tie with 11:29 left in the half.
Streams gained possession of the ball at midfield and cut and weaved toward the goal.
"I saw the open space so I knew I had to take it," Streams said.
She muscled her way through a maze of Eagles, bouncing off a couple of them, and put on a burst of speed to gain separation as she ran into the penalty area.
Streams placed a low 14-yard into the far corner past Elsa Daulerio.
Streams said when she was making her run, the Mt. Ararat players were trying to poke the ball away by extending their feet "but I was able to touch the ball around them."
As she was preparing to shoot, she noticed that Daulerio was positioned at the near post "so I had to aim for the low [far side] corner."
The goal was her fifth of the young season.
"She is a goal scorer," said Scott, who was able to gather a ball outside the penalty area and navigate through a crowded goalmouth before finding the far corner with a low shot from 12 yards out.
"I didn't have to beat as many people as Emmie did. The ball had deflected to me off a defender," Scott said. "With a goaltender that tall (6-foot-2), it had to be a finesse shot into the low [far] corner.
It was Scott's first goal of the season.
Bangor attempted 10 shots in the first half while Mt. Ararat didn't have any.
Bangor continued its supremacy in the second half but Mt. Ararat mounted a pair of back-to-back chances midway through the second half.
A Ram defender cleared a loose ball out of the 6-yard box after a cross glanced off the hands of goalie Emma McNeil.
Seconds later, the alert McNeil made a quick follow-up save off freshman Islah Godo.
Atherley iced it when she scored from 6 yards out after Taylor King chested down a Lily Chandler cross into her path with 10:51 left in the game. It was her first goal.
Junior McNeil finished with two saves on three shots while senior Daulerio wound up with seven saves on 16 shots.
"We played pretty good but we can play better," Streams said. "They packed it in, we had to force the ball outside. We have a lot of speed."
"They were fast. This was a good experience for us," said Mt. Ararat coach Chad Kirk, who started five freshmen. "Our freshmen got a chance to play a lot of juniors and seniors."
He said Godo and junior striker-midfielder Ella Bergeron played well.
