LISBON FALLS

Injuries are a part of sports, and too often they occur at the most inopportune time.

Coming into Thursday’s Mountain Valley Conference girls high school soccer game, Lisbon was without the services of leading scorer Deliah Schrieber, nursing an injured knee sustained in her team’s victory over Dirigo on Tuesday.

On the other side, Wiscasset was missing a key component, with Alecia Faulkingham out of the lineup. During Thursday’s game, things became far worse on the injury front for the Wolverines, who saw three more key players go down, along with a pair of Lisbon players, keeping the EMTs busy throughout a physical contest.

In the end, it was Lisbon that stood tall thanks to freshman Emma Houle’s goal with 4:51 remaining in regulation for a 1-0 victory.

The Greyhounds improved to 5-0, while Wiscasset lost its second straight to fall to 3-2. Lisbon hosts Monmouth on Saturday (11 a.m.), while the Wolverines entertain Madison on Monday at 3:30 p.m.

“It’s a very big win,” said Gentle, who had a pregame talk with his players, with Schrieber expected to miss 2-4 weeks. “Coming into the game, the girls knew Deliah wasn’t going to be there and we talked about everyone stepping up their game, running to the ball and making their passes. If we were there at the end, we have players with the ability to put the ball in the net. We capitalized on our chance.”

For Wiscasset coach Duane Goud, it was tough to watch his athletes go down.

“It is tough to play, especially when we lose starters like that, important pieces to this team,” said Goud after watching starters Tylan Onorato, Rachel Berry and Gabby Chapman succumb to injuries. “People on the bench are going to have to step up and play the game.”

Feeling out

Neither team produced a solid offensive chance in the opening half. Wiscasset held a 3-2 shots advantage, with Wolverines netminder Kayla Gordon forced to make just one save, while Lisbon goaltender Ali Sult had two stops.

Wiscasset opened the second half with the territorial advantage, cutting the field in half behind the play of midfielders Miranda McIntire, Hanna Foye and Stephanie Jones.

“We had better pressure by far in the second half,” said Goud, who watched shots by McIntire and Foye sail wide of the target, with Sult stopping a header by Keara Hunter.

“We got a little bit lost in our defensive rotation in the middle, but we made a decent adjustment on the fly,” said Gentle.

Lisbon began pressing forward, thanks to long clears from Kailyn Hill and Chandler Riordan, who saved a goal when she cleared a deflected Wiscasset shot away from her goal line.

The game’s only goal began with a throw-in. The ball was directed inside the Wiscasset 18, with Kipri Steele getting a toe on the bouncing ball to clear it away from the Wolverine defense. Houle fought off the pressure of a charging Gordon, with her shot rolling into the vacated cage.

“The ball just slipped right in, somehow getting past the goalie and rolling in,” said Houle, who feels her team was able to find a way with Schrieber out. “If somebody gets hurt, we just try to stay positive and suck it up. We don’t want to let ourselves down. This is a big win.”

“Emma was at the right place at the right time,” said Gentle. “You need kids to step up, and they agree that they had to play their best game today to beat Wiscasset.”

“We needed to go up one or two on this team to put it away, and we just couldn’t do it,” said Goud.

Wiscasset pressed for the tying goal. McIntire lined up for a direct kick with 10 seconds remaining, but her shot curled outside of the left post as the time expired.

The Wolverines finished with a 10-5 shots advantage, while the Greyhounds held an 8-5 edge in corner kicks. Sult had four saves for Lisbon, while Gordon stopped three Greyhound shots.