By Ernie Clark
Special to the BDN
HERMON, Maine — The Washington Academy boys soccer team entered Wednesday’s Class C North title game seemingly in a deficit position — the fourth-ranked Raiders had been outscored by their opponent, George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, by a combined 10-0 during two regular-season losses.
But a healthy dose of attitude adjustment along with an upset of top-ranked and previously undefeated Mount View of Thorndike in the semifinals provided WA with renewed late-season confidence that coach Dennis Whitney’s club turned into a 4-0 victory at the Pottle Sports Complex in Hermon.
Senior Pau Castell scored three goals, including two in the game’s first 20 minutes, as WA (13-3-1) captured its first regional crown since 2018 and earned a date against Hall-Dale of Farmingdale in Saturday’s 10 a.m. Class C state final at Cameron Stadium in Bangor.
“Mental toughness is the most important part of this game, and it was the key for us today,” Whitney said.
Hall-Dale (15-2) edged defending state champion Mt. Abram 2-1 in the C South final also played Wednesday.
Second-seeded George Stevens finished its season at 13-3-1.
GSA may have dominated its 3-0 and 7-0 regular-season wins over WA, but the outset of the third meeting between the teams featured a role reversal, with the Raiders immediately controlling play in its offensive end and eventually cashing in with two Castell goals within an 11-minute stretch of the first half.
Castell scored unassisted 7:12 into the contest, dribbling on the left wing to the offensive end line, then saving the ball from going out of bounds and lining a low, sharp-angled shot that GSA freshman goalie Charlie Sullivan could not control as it went behind him and into the net.
Castell struck again with 21:52 left in the opening half, this time accepting a long centering pass from senior midfielder Zaedyn Philpot from the right wing in the center of the penalty area just before Sullivan could get to it and tipping the ball into the center of the net to make it 2-0.
“I’m always looking for a long ball because I like to think I’m a great midfielder so I look for the open spaces and me and Pau have that between us,” said Philpot, who contributed two assists to the victory. “I saw him just before I took the kick and he saw me and I got him the ball.”
GSA gradually worked its way into the match and generated three good scoring chances of its own before intermission.
The first, a 40-yard blast by senior Reed Pambianco, caromed hard off the crossbar. Two subsequent headers off corner kicks by GSA were cleared by WA defenders to preserve the Raiders’ two-goal advantage at halftime.
GSA also had its chances after the break but could not break through a WA defense anchored by senior goalie Ethan Cates.
WA padded its lead with two second-half goals, the first by James Welch off an assist from Philpot and a penalty kick by Castell with 16:46 remaining.
“Today we just had a different mindset,” Philpot said. “We’ve been that way for the last three weeks, and after the win over Mount View it gave us the confidence we needed.”
