Despite a decided edge in possession, the Bangor High School Rams girls soccer team was leading Brunswick just 1-0, and the Dragons were taking advantage of favorable wind to spend time in the attacking third.
But senior attacking midfielder Teagan Atherley ensured that the Rams would get the opportunity to defend their Class A North title by scoring her 35th and 36th goals of the season in the final 21 minutes of the game to sew up a 3-0 victory at a chilly Cameron Stadium.
The 15-1 Rams have now won 13 straight. The top-seeded team will face No. 2 Camden Hills of Rockport, 16-0, in the A North championship game at the Messalonskee High School in Oakland on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. It will be a rematch of last year’s final won by Bangor, although the Windjammers dealt Bangor its only loss of this season in September.
Sophomore midfielder Gabby Gordon scored the only goal of the first half when she converted a penalty kick 5:06 into the game.
Bangor had the favorable wind in the first half and had an 18-2 edge in shot attempts but couldn’t add to its lead as Gordon rolled a second penalty kick wide and Atherley was robbed on a clean break-in by Dragons sophomore goalkeeper Julianna Morin, who finished with seven saves over the opening 40 minutes.
Bangor senior goalkeeper Eva Coombs preserved the lead in the second half when she was able to get her hands on Brunswick standout striker Lexi Morin’s free kick and push it against the crossbar.
Moments later, Atherley made it 2-0 off a pass from senior forward Kali Snowden, who had come into the game just a few minutes before.
Snowden chased down a ball near the end line and fed a short pass to Atherley, who sizzled a rising 12-yard shot into the upper near side corner with just over 20 minutes remaining.
“Kali did a great job. She kept putting pressure on, she beat her player, won the three-yard race and laid it back to me,” Atherley said. “It was a perfect pass and I hit it in. She did all the work on that one.”
Thirteen minutes later, Atherley notched her second off a perfect through ball from Clara Oldenburg. Atherley took the pass in full stride and bent a 15-yard shot around Morin. It was Oldenburg’s team-high 22nd assist.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better pass,” Atherley said.
Bangor’s back line of Jo Jo Clukey, Avery Clark, Sophia Chase and JaLynn Williams was stout throughout the game and Coombs finished with seven saves on 16 shot attempts and also aggressively came off her line to snare loose balls.
“The whole team was tremendous, defensively,” said Bangor coach Jay Kemble, praising his forwards for getting back to make defensive plays.
No. 4, Brunswick, which had won six of its previous seven entering the game, finished up at 9-6-1.
“Bangor was a better team,” Brunswick first-year coach Kevin Bachman said. “They were faster, more skilled and better organized. They looked a lot better than us. But our girls gave it their full effort and I’m proud of them.”
Morin finished with nine saves on 24 Bangor shot attempts in a quality performance and Dragon senior midfielder Elysia Palmer turned in an impressive effort as did Lexi Morin.
Gordon’s penalty kick turned out to be the game-winner and was the result of a Bangor player being knocked down in the penalty area on a shoulder challenge.
“I knew where I was going to put it. I was very confident,” said Gordon who put a powerful shot past the left hands of Morin for her fourth of the season.
