By Larry Mahoney, BDN Staff
Orono’s Georgia Calcagno (left) moves the ball around Old Town’s Sage Phillips during their soccer game Wednesday in Old Town. (Ashley L.Conti photo) Click image for more photos
OLD TOWN, Maine — The Orono High School girls soccer team didn’t waste any time setting the tone for Wednesday afternoon’s game against archrival Old Town.
Lizzie White headed home Brinsley Chasse’s perfectly-placed corner kick just 3:54 into the game, and the Red Riots went on to post a 5-1 victory behind junior striker Becky Lopez-Anido’s three goals and assist.
Orono is 4-0-1 while Old Town fell to 2-4.
Norwegian exchange student Aashild Fridtun logged a goal and two assists while pairing with Lopez-Anido to supply Orono with a potent striker tandem. Junior midfielder Chasse had two assists, and junior goalkeeper Katelyn Richards finished with five saves on 13 shots.
Sophomore Sage Phillips scored for Old Town off a Callie Brackley pass, and junior Natalie St. Louis finished with eight saves on 33 shots.
“Obviously when we jumped on them at the beginning, that was a good sign,” said Orono coach Cid Dyjak. “It was a beautiful header to start the game.”
Chasse said she “kind of overhit” her corner, but the unattended White raced into the penalty box late and sent a powerful 15-yard header past St. Louis.
“Brinsley’s corners are crazy good,” said White. “I was left unmarked and I saw the ball coming through. It was an opportunity for me. We’ve been working on headers in practice and it paid off.”
Lopez-Anido and Fridtun scored later in the half as Class C Orono built the lead to 3-0.
Lopez-Anido made it 2-0 as she weaved back and forth through a maze of defenders before slotting a 10-yarder into the far corner.
“I got a little nervous. I wasn’t sure when I should shoot,” said Lopez-Anido. “We work on never giving up so I stuck with the ball, I eventually got an opening and took the shot. I think I had three people on me so it was a little challenging.”
The dynamic and tenacious Chasse, who controlled the midfield throughout, set the play in motion that led to the third goal. She passed to Lopez-Anido, whose through-ball sent Fridtun in alone on St. Louis down the right side. Fridtun hit a firm 13-yard shot into the far corner.
Phillips gave Class B Old Town a lifeline when she ran on to Brackley’s pass down the right flank and drilled a 14-yarder into the short-side corner.
But Lopez-Anido sewed it up with two second-half goals as she used her exceptional speed and skills to break in alone after taking passes from Fridtun. St. Louis had alertly raced off her line to stop two other Lopez-Anido breakaways in the second half.
“A lot of my breakaways were due to my teammates’ passing,” said Lopez-Anido. “We have a really good formation where we’re able to get those through-balls.”
“Orono played a great game and we didn’t,” said Old Town coach Mike May. “They moved the ball well, they stayed compact in the middle and they were able to move our defense out of position pretty easily and that hurt us. They also had way more shots on goal.”
Midfielders Emily Hussey and Brackley played well for Old Town as did St. Louis.
