Unbeaten Brunswick posted its eighth shutout of the season Tuesday night with an 8-0 victory against Oxford Hills at South Paris.
The Dragons, the defending Class A state champions, have allowed one goal this season while using a back line that includes three players who have never played there.
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“Our four in the back are just as talented with the ball as our four attackers,” Brunswick Coach Martyn Davidson said. “They’re just phenomenal.”
Kip Chipman, a junior who plays one of the two inside positions in Brunswick’s flat-back defense, is the lone veteran defender.
“She’s such a skillful player,” Davidson said. “On the ball she’s the best pass-maneuverer on the whole team, and she just marks up everything in the back.”
Left fullback Cassandra Murano and right fullback Laura Pavatt, both juniors, are converted wingers, and inside fullback Lauren Thacker is a backup goalie who was pressed into service when inside back Morgan Libby missed the first eight games with a knee injury.
“They all possess the ball very well,” Davidson said. “They’ve got the skill so that if they get into trouble, they can pass their way out of it. Some younger unskilled players will just try to clear (the ball) and it can go into the edge of the box and you can concede more goals. They can pass it from the back.”
Goalie Lydia Caputi, an extremely athletic sophomore, provides a solid last line of defense.
THE TOP two teams in Western Class C will have to wait until the postseason to meet.
St. Dominic, which is atop the Heal point standings, and Georges Valley, ranked second, belong to the Mountain Valley Conference but aren’t scheduled to meet in the regular season.
The Saints (8-0) belong to the Northern Division and the Buccaneers (7-0-1) are in the 14-team Southern Division. Each MVC team plays a 14-game schedule composed of teams from within their own division. There are no crossover games.
Last October, St. Dom’s beat Georges Valley 2-1 in the MVC championship game, normally played between the end of the regular season and the start of the Maine Principals’ Association regional tournament.
When the regional tournament began, eighth-seeded Sacopee Valley upset the top-ranked Saints 2-1, and Georges Valley went on to win its first state championship in 12 years.
This is the last season Georges Valley can compete for a Class C state title.
Next fall it will merge with Rockland High, a member of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, which competes in Eastern Class B.
IN A MATCHUP between unbeaten teams, defending state champion York will visit Yarmouth for a pivotal Western Class B matchup at 6 p.m today in Yarmouth.
Both teams enter the game with 8-0 records.
Yarmouth holds a lead of fewer than two tournament index points over the Wildcats in the race for the top spot in the Heal point standings.
Both teams came away with 1-0 victories in their latest games Tuesday night.
Stephanie Gallagher headed in a corner kick to propel York past visiting Falmouth, while Devin Simsarian scored her sixth goal in three games to lift visiting Yarmouth past cross-town rival North Yarmouth Academy.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
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