Exciting ends for both Windham varsity and JV girls’ soccer games

By Matt Pascarella

Windham’s girls’ varsity and junior varsity teams hit the road and played back-to-back games at Sanford where the varsity game earned a nailbiter win.

Windham senior Elizabeth Talbot steals the ball away from
two Sanford players before passing it to a teammate during 
a girls' varsity soccer game on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at Sanford.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

Windham varsity was down 2-1 with less than two minutes left in the game. Senior Abbey Thornton scored on a direct kick right over the goalie’s head to tie the game 2-2.

In overtime, with seconds left, Windham senior Elizabeth Talbot scored, and Windham got the 3-2 win.

Windham’s junior varsity team scored often and would not be stopped by the Spartans. After two halves, Windham earned a 7-1 victory.

Varsity

Five minutes in the first half Sanford scored.

There were roughly eight minutes left in the half when senior Liz Levesque kicked the ball just under the crossbar and into the corner of the net to tie the game 1-1 at halftime.

“This was a big win for us, we dug deep; we needed to be able to come back,” said Windham varsity girls’ soccer coach Deb Lebel. “We’re going to find ourselves in situations where we need to come from behind or really grit it out in the end.”

Assistant coach Jim Stewart said they came together; they were communicating more, were fighting for

each other. He said when they do that, he thinks they are unbeatable, but they needed to show themselves that was possible. Now, they have to bring that back when it counts.

About 10 minutes into the second half, Sanford took a 2-1 lead.

Thornton’s indirect kick with less than two minutes on the clock tied the game and sent it into overtime.

“Even though we didn’t have the best touches or foot skills, we still had the energy and mindset and the hard work for each other,” said Thornton.

During overtime, through a cluster of players, Talbot knocked the ball in off her shoulder before time ran out.

“I just knew we all had to work hard and push through those last five minutes [of overtime] and Abbey kicked a great free kick, and I followed up on it,” said Talbot.

Although there was some protesting as to whether the goal was scored in time, it was in time, and was ruled in Windham’s favor.

JV

 
Sanford's defense was only able to hold Windham off for a short time.

In the first half, Windham freshman Myla Vercoe scored on a breakaway; then freshman Sydney Broadbent scored from a corner, junior Alyssa Conley scored from outside the penalty box and sophomore Sarah John finished after Sanford’s goalie attempted a save.

Windham kept up the intensity and took the ball several times from Sanford players. Windham led 4-0 midway through.

“In the first 15 minutes of the game it was a one-touch pass, a two-touch pass,” said Windham junior varsity girls’ coach Lisa Anderson. They possessed the ball in their end almost the entire half. Definitely, teamwork and passing won the game.”

In the second half, Windham freshman Peytin Lombardi scored, junior Abby Lloyd scored on a penalty kick and Vercoe scored again.

Anderson said shooting low and shooting to corners also made a difference in the game. She said she’s really proud of Windham’s improvements.

“I think it was a lot of teamwork [that enabled the win],” said Vercoe. “We’ve been focusing a lot on passing. It helped ... to be able to find people and get us up and back the field.”

Vercoe said talking went well and they were supportive of each other. They’ve improved a lot as a team, working better on the field. <