Before Tuesday night’s game against Fort Kent, Orono head coach David Hamel said his Red Riots play a “fun brand of soccer.”
And boy did his team prove him right in the final moments of the match.
Down 2-0 with less than five minutes left to play, the Orono boys looked well on their way to their first loss of the season. The Red Riots had been the more dangerous team, but well-timed goals from the impressive Fort Kent squad had the Warriors well-positioned for the win.
That’s when the magic started to happen for Orono.
The Red Riots had been knocking on the door most of the contest, with several shots sailing just wide of the goal, one bouncing off the post, and even an apparent goal getting called back after time had just expired at the end of the first half.
Orono finally broke through with just over four minutes to play in the game. A yellow card against Fort Kent gave the Red Riots a free kick just outside the box, and after that kick flew into the box, senior midfielder Brady Hews finished it up in traffic to put Orono on the board.
Hews wasn’t done. Hardly a minute later, he spun through the Fort Kent defense and set junior forward Dominic Madore up for the game-tying goal with just over three minutes remaining.
In an instant, Orono seemed to have completely turned the tables on Fort Kent.
But the drama didn’t end there. It was just getting going.
Shortly after Orono evened things up, Fort Kent captain James Lamarre broke through the otherwise stout Red Riot defense and had a clear path to goal. With just Orono keeper Matthew Allen to beat, Lamarre was fouled from behind and awarded a penalty.
Lamarre already had one goal on the evening and looked ready to add another, this time to end Orono’s comeback hopes for good.
But Allen had something to say about that.
The senior goalkeeper made a lunging initial save on the penalty kick, and then scrambled to make another, keeping Orono in the game and proving his coach right yet again.
“My goalkeeper is outstanding,” Hamel had said before the game. “He’s gonna make a few saves every game that he shouldn’t have to, but he does.”
It was redemption of sorts as well for Allen, who seemed disappointed in himself in the first half after a long shot from Fort Kent’s Dominic Cyr went through his hands and into the net. But his teammates quickly told him not to worry about it.
“I was getting down on myself a little bit after that first goal, but once my team lifted me back up and they got me back in, it felt incredible,” Allen said about making his game-saving stop.
That save helped send the game into overtime, and it wasn’t long before an Orono freshman stepped up to decide the contest in favor of the home team.
Will Mitchell needed just a minute of overtime to corral the ball and send it into the Fort Kent net, earning a sudden death victory in improbable fashion.
“I was talking about it on the bench. I said, ‘If I get a ball in the box in OT, I’m going to put that in the net,’” Mitchell said after the win. “I’ve never done something like that before, that was incredible.”
Allen was quick to credit Fort Kent for traveling all the way from Aroostook County and putting up such a strong performance.
“It felt amazing to come out and win against Fort Kent, who is an incredible team,” Allen said. “They came down, drove I don’t know how many hours. And to come out and play like that was incredible.”
Hamel, Orono’s coach, was “just ecstatic” after the win and felt like his team had been in the game the whole time. But after a formation change and a surge in intensity, the goals eventually came.
He told his team not to give up, and they listened.
“We’ve been down before this year,” Hamel said. “I told the kids at half time, ‘I’m not worried, I’m not nervous.’ I knew we’d be OK, we just have to trust each other.”
Orono moved to 7-0-1 on the season with Tuesday’s win. The loss snapped a four-game win streak for Fort Kent, which is now 5-3.
Heading into Tuesday, 11 different players had scored goals for the balanced Red Riots attack. Madore leads the team now with 11 goals after his game-tying score against Fort Kent.
Hamel credited Madore’s goalscoring and playmaking abilities to get others involved — both of which he demonstrated Tuesday night.
“He really makes those off-the ball-runs, which creates openings for his teammates. And it’s kind of the key to our success, our off-the-ball movement,” Hamel said. “And he’s the quarterback in that regard.”
In addition to those offensive strengths, Bergen Soderberg anchored the Red Riot backline with Lucas Hiebeler adding tremendous defensive effort throughout as well.
Hamel knew that Fort Kent would be talented in the midfield and explosive on offense, and that defending the Warrior counter attack would be a key to the matchup.
“When we have our chances to score, let’s take advantage because goals change games,” Hamel said on Tuesday afternoon.
And a few hours later, that certainly was the case for the Red Riots in their unlikely come-from-behind win.
