BANGOR – Greely High of Cumberland Center senior forward Abby Lennox said they have spent a lot of time in practice on cutting from the outside to the inside and launching shots off the cut.
That’s how Lennox scored the first of her two goals with just 1:46 remaining in the first half and it proved to be the game-winner as Greely beat Hermon 3-1 in their state Class B championship game at Cameron Stadium in Bangor on Saturday night.
Greely won its first state title since 2015 and concluded a 14-0-4 campaign while Hermon wound up 15-3 and is still looking for its first state title.
Molly Partridge’s well-placed penalty kick staked Greely to a 1-0 lead before Lennox took a Sami Santerre pass at the top of the penalty area and sailed a curling shot into the upper corner to the right of Hawks goalie Becca Balmas.
“I picked my head up and tried to blaze it right through,” said Lennox. “All that work paid off. I’m really glad it went in. It gave us momentum for the second half.”
Lennox extended the lead to 3-0 early in the second half when Avery Bush made a nifty pass to her and she converted from the middle of the penalty area.
“I was between two defenders, I called for the ball and she slipped it right through to me. I made a move to get around a defender and I knew I had to hit a low shot and it slipped under the goalie,” said Lennox.
“That third goal was a killer,” said Hermon coach M.J. Ball.
There was still plenty of fight left in the Hawks and junior Madison Stewart responded with a goal just a few minutes later when she ran on to a loose ball and fired a powerful shot into the far corner past Greely goalkeeper Lily Wawrzcki-Stein with 36 minutes remaining.
Less than a minute later, Hermon’s Natalie Tardie appeared to have cut the lead to 3-2 when she broke free and tucked her shot past Wawrzcki-Stein.
But she was ruled offsides.
Hermon’s dynamic tandem of Tardie and Stewart nearly made it 3-2 moments later when Tardie’s low cross from the right side found its way to a wide open Stewart at the far post but the alert Wawrzcki-Stein dove to her right and stopped the attempt by Hermon’s leading goal scorer, who was able to get a small piece of the ball and direct it toward the goal.
“That was an amazing save,” said Greely coach Rachel Williams.
Williams had told her team that Hermon had some big, strong girls who could put the ball in the net.
“We made some really big mistakes and they had some great chances but our depth was able to take care of it,” said Williams. “They score a lot more goals than we do.”
“We knew they had some strong center players and we knew what we needed to do to slow them down and play our game and to bring them into that,” said Lennox.
Partridge’s penalty kick to open the scoring gave her a 100 percent conversion rate from the penalty spot for the season.
“It’s all about believing, staying calm and finding the net. There is a lot of pressure in a 0-0 state game but I believed in myself and got it done,” said Partridge.
“Our girls worked extremely hard but struggled with that final pass to set up quality shot,” said Ball.
“We can certainly play better than we did but you have to give credit to Greely. They’re a good team, they move the ball well and (Lennox) is a very good player.
“But I’m proud of the girls for getting this far. We lose three seniors but we’ll regroup and get after it again next year. It wasn’t for a lack of effort tonight, it was more of a lack of execution
Wawrzcki-Stein and Lizzy Sproul combined for four saves on 16 Hermon shot attempts and their teammates blocked eight shots.
Balmas finished with eight saves on 19 attempts.
