Photo by Paul R. Ladd, III
HIGH FIVE. Coach Wally Caldwell high-fives keeper Brooke Simpson after the Wildcats defeated the Winslow Black Raiders to become the Maine Class B Girls' Soccer Champions on Nov. 7.
Photo by Tori Rasche
Photo by Tori Rasche
Photo by Paul R. Ladd, III
Photo by Paul R. Ladd, III
YORK - The York faithful had been packed in on the far side of the field all night long, overflowing the visitors' stands and spreading out along the fence at Don Roux stadium in Lewiston, all there on Nov. 7 to see the Maine Class B Girls' Soccer Championship pitting Western Maine Champions York against Eastern Maine Champs Winslow.
Cheering themselves hoarse on a cold, windy November night, they could see the clock winding down, could see what was about to happen, and when the final whistle blew, they jumped the fence and ran out onto the field to be with their team, 2-1 winners, the Maine Girls' Soccer State Champions, the York Wildcats.
The public address announcer, as if viewing from another planet, issued a limp warning that spectators were not allowed on the field. The two bundled up policemen assigned to control things on the York side surveyed the scene on the field, folded their arms, stomped their feet, looked at each other and laughed. Our kind of guys.
Two hours later, when the York team bus rolled off I-95 with the windows down and all the players screaming and waving, the York Police and Fire Departments were there to meet them, sirens blaring, lights flashing, followed by a stream of dozens of cars, all honking, their drivers and passengers cheering as the procession made its way through town and back to York High School.
The next night, when addressing his team and their parents at the Fall Sports Awards, Coach Wally Caldwell looked at the assembled group for a long time before putting things simply.
"Winning," he said, pausing to look over at his team, "makes a difference."
In his 13 years as coach of the York girls' team, Caldwell had never had the chance to see what that difference might be. Stymied on a seemingly annual basis by either Falmouth or Yarmouth, his team was the one that had always fallen just short, the team of long winters, the team of what-ifs. No more.
"Now we have something to build on," said Caldwell in an interview later. "Now we have something to continue. Winning makes that possible. Before, we would play hard but come up short and it would always just feel like you would have to start everything over. Not anymore. We can take this win and carry it all the way to next August."
The championship game itself pitted two number-four seeds, the York Wildcats entering as Western Maine Champs with a record of 11-4-2, against the Winslow Black Raiders, with a record of 15-1, representing the East for the fourth straight year.
For a time it appeared York might come up short again, and that Winslow, losers in their last three trips to the final, might finally bring home the trophy.
Starting off the first half against a stiff breeze and facing an inspired, aggressive Winslow team, the Wildcats were playing frantic and on their heels with the Black Raiders putting numbers and pressure up the middle of the Wildcats defense.
With just over 16 minutes left in the half, York appeared to finally be settling in when Ashley Taylor, continuing on her fabulous run of post-season play, one-timed in for the goal and a 1-0 lead off a strong run up the left and beautiful cross in from Chelsey Tewell, the play beginning off a heads-up clearing pass from freshman Nikki Taylor.
But with York up 1-0 and gaining control of the game, sophomore mid-fielder Emma Clark took a nasty knock to the head and was taken out for the half as a precaution.
Without Clark as the glue holding the midfield together, Winslow pounded the ball relentlessly up the middle and, at just under five minutes left, finally broke through when a clearing header landed at the feet of an unmarked Liz Cheesman just inside the box who drilled home low to even the score for the Black Raiders at 1-1.
The game at this point was either team's to win or lose. Three minutes later, it was the Wildcats staking their claim. Off a corner kick from Tewell, there again was Ashley Taylor, scrambling in to get a leg on the ball and deflecting in for the 2-1 lead going into the half.
After the game, Winslow coach Scott Wood would call the goal a "backbreaker," and truer words were never spoken. The Black Raiders would not manage another shot on goal in the game, as the Wildcats, the wind now at their backs, clamped down and dominated the play for the final 40 minutes, outshooting Winslow 10-0 in the half.
Though York would not manage another goal, due mainly to the outstanding play of Raider keeper Beth Fisher, the second half was a mismatch and an exercise in the team play that had brought the Wildcats there. Clark, recovered and back on the field, working hard with outside mid Kim Rigano to keep the Raiders relentlessly pinned down in their own end. Tewell, using all her speed and skill both ways, punishing the Winslow midfielders and backs with blazing runs and check-back marking all night long. The three backs, Meredith Reid, Kate Rasche and Nikki Taylor, along with stopper Michaela Schilling, combining to stuff every Raider attempt to move onto the attack. The young scrappers, Ashley Taylor and Lindsey Weigel, putting pace and pressure all over the field. Contributors everywhere, and from every corner of the field.
After the game, as the girls were presented the championship trophy, Caldwell stepped back into the distance away from the crowd, watching his team with a deep, quiet smile. Asked later about his thoughts, Caldwell said he just wanted his players to have their moment.
"They may never enjoy something like this again in their lives. I just wanted them to have their time."
After a very long way, and a very hard road, now, indeed, they do. See you in August.
