Tense penalty shootout win sends Orono soccer to state title game

The Orono Red Riots saw their undefeated season and a chance at the Class C boys soccer title slipping away.

The Mount View Mustangs had just gone up 2-0 early in the second half of the North regional championship game courtesy of a beautiful goal by senior co-captain Victory Ahlefeld. And Orono’s offense had looked pretty well bottled up throughout the night.

But the Red Riots still had some magic left up their sleeve.

Two quick goals by sophomore Kohen Corriveau quickly turned the tables in the contest. Corriveau notched his first by hammering the ball home from short range, and then found himself alone on goal minutes later courtesy of a beautiful through pass from freshman midfielder Gabe Lule.

Lule had just come off the bench, and his pass combined with Corriveau’s finish tied the game 2-2.

“As soon as they scored the second goal, I’m like yeah, I’ve got to put the pedal to the metal and just go as hard as I can,” Corriveau said.

Mount View, who got its first goal in spectacular fashion from senior co-captain Tanner Oathout on a long-distance shot to the far post, had a few more chances in the second half but could not find the back of the net. The same was true for Orono the rest of regulation, and the regional title game went to overtime.

Then double overtime. And then two rounds of penalty kicks.

Like so much of the game Tuesday night, Orono and Mount View went back and forth in the penalty kick shootout. Players from both teams calmly knocked down the first few kicks, until Mount View goalie Aden Hargrove broke the trend with a save that sent the Mustang fans into a frenzy. But a missed Mount View PK to follow evened things back up, and the game stretched into a second round of penalty shots.

Orono goalkeeper Matthew Allen, who had already stepped up and made his own penalty shot earlier in the exchange, delivered the game-defining save a few rounds later. The Red Riots actually stormed the goal prematurely, thinking the contest to be over, but one last round of the penalties remained.

That’s when Freshman Maxximus Pillsbury stepped up for Orono and made his attempt, cementing the win — for real, this time.

Allen said the Red Riots felt confident heading into the shootout, feeling like they had momentum and knowing that they needed to stay calm and convert. And that’s what they did.

A 2-0 deficit couldn’t rattle them, and neither could the bright lights of a shootout.

“Obviously the first half wasn’t great. We knew that,” Allen said about the team’s mindset midway through the game. “But we went in to halftime and it was no negative this, negative that. We were uplifting, we were like, ‘Boys, calm down, we’ve got this. We’ve been in this situation before.’ We knew we could pull it out.”

After two rounds of penalty kicks, they were ready to celebrate.

“No better feeling in the world,” Allen said after the win.

Orono will now face returning Class C boys champion Hall-Dale on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Cony High School in Augusta.