SACO — There was a distinct feel of established power versus plucky upstart when Thornton Academy, coming off its first regular-season defeat in over two years, hosted Biddeford ”“ off to its best start in many seasons ”“ in an SMAA girls soccer game Wednesday night.
Thanks to forward Amanda Arnold and superiority in the midfield, for one night, it was the old guard that won out.
Arnold scored one goal and assisted on two others as the Golden Trojans rebounded from a rare loss and downed the rival Tigers 3-1 in front of large, boisterous crowd at Hill Stadium.
“I’m glad we were able to come out on top because we kind of needed this one,” said Trojans head coach Chris Kohl, whose team improved to 5-1. “We’d won four games and got really one Heal Point from those games. Coming off the Windham loss, we needed this one.”
It was Biddeford’s first loss on the season as it dropped to 4-1-1, but coach Darren Boynton, who had felt the sting of 5-0, 5-0 and 4-1 defeats to Thornton the past three seasons, was happy with his team’s overall performance.
“It was an absolute big game,” Boynton said. “Coming into Thornton Academy is always a tough game and our girls stepped up. They were absolutely ready for it, and we played a really good second half.”
After the game, Boynton was left lamenting a decision he made early in the first half, when forward Cassie Ellis exited the game with an ankle injury.
Boynton accordingly switched his formation from an attacking 4-4-2 setup to a more defensive 5-4-1, which he said “killed” his offense as the Tigers managed just one shot on goal in the opening 40 minutes.
“I made a mistake. I changed our formation from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 when (Ellis) went down, and it really changed things. In the second half, we made a change back in personnel, which is a huge testament to our girls being able to play multiple positions.”
Holding the majority of possession, Thornton took a 1-0 lead with 15:57 left in the opening half when Arnold found Katherine Gillespie in space in the Biddeford end.
Gillespie turned, ran at her defender and just before reaching the top of the Tigers’ box, unleashed a left-footed shot toward the left corner that left goalkeeper Anna Marie Seiler with no chance.
“That was a great shot in the corner and it kind of settled us down,” Kohl said. “There was just so much excitement for the start of the game, so it took us a little bit of time to find our rhythm, and Biddeford had a lot to do with that.”
“That was gorgeous,” Arnold added. “It was a great finish.”
Arnold scored six minutes into the second half, when after a swashbuckling run down the right, Tori Daigle cracked a shot that Seiler palmed into Arnold’s path, leaving an easy close-range shot that put TA up 2-0.
“I was thinking (Daigle) was going to go for it,” Arnold said. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Biddeford, however, responded just 54 seconds later as Deidra Doyon sent the Tigers’ first corner of the game deep to the back post, where Lexi Paquette met the ball with her body to push it over the goal line.
“You can’t ask for any better,” Boynton said. “A perfect corner in a dangerous place, and we just crashed the net.”
“We got the second goal and then we relaxed too much right off the kickoff, and you just can’t do that with a 2-0 lead,” added Kohl. “That let them back in.”
But that was the Tigers’ last real foray in the Thornton box as the Golden Trojans composed themselves and played a strong last 30 minutes, securing the victory with 3:20 to play when Daigle ran on to Arnold’s perfectly placed through ball and blasted her shot past Seiler.
“I looked up and saw the through ball, and Tori ran right onto it. We play really well together on those one-two’s,” Arnold said. “I was definitely expecting them to be competitive and be just as good as we are. It was a big game, we’re two rivals. ”¦ We responded well.”
The win moves Thornton up into seventh in the Western Class A Heal Point standings, one place above Biddeford. If that proximity remains the same, the two could meet again in the postseason, a chance both Kohl and Boynton would likely relish if the atmosphere comes close to matching Wednesday night’s.
“It was a fun game,” Kohl said. “There were a lot of people here for a girls soccer game. That’s a tribute to both teams having success. You see it in football and other sports, and it was great the girls got to have a taste of it.”
“It’s our first loss, and it was emotional for our seniors because this game meant a lot to them,” said Boynton. “But hopefully we’ll get a chance to see them again.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323.
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