Fort Kent, ME - Having traveled up north after their home game on Saturday, the Mustangs Women's Soccer team got ready to face USCAA Div I University of Maine at Fort Kent Bengals, a team that has won six of the last seven women's soccer national championships.
According to Mustangs Head Women's Soccer Coach, Rob Rodriguez, "This is a game that we wanted on our schedule and one that I personally was looking forward to for a few reasons. They are the best of the best in USCAA and I needed our team to see and feel what that type of program is like and how they play and there is no better way to do that than to be on the field with them. Playing these USCAA Div I teams is really good for us because they make us better."
The Mustangs knew they would be on defense pretty much the entire game and came out with a formation that was tailored for that. Although the Bengals came out shooting right away and put the first goal past Mustang keeper Allie Annear (Auburn, ME) in the 9th minute of play, Central Maine did a good job frustrating a strong Bengal attack and was able to carry the ball out of the back repeatedly to try to force the game to be played at midfield instead of in their defensive third. The Mustangs went into halftime with a 3-0 deficit but were pleased with their ability to repeatedly disrupt the Bengal offense and move the ball out of the back in spite of the constant pressure on their back line.
Emma Johnson (Monmouth, ME) took over in net for Central Maine in the second half and was able to hold Fort Kent off for the first 15 minutes before they put the 4th goal of the game in. As the Mustangs began to wear down with a much smaller bench than Fort Kent, three more goals came about 8 minutes apart to complete the scoring and give the Bengals a 7-0 win. Central Maine had one shot on goal to 15 by Fort Kent.
In some final comments on the game, Coach Rodriguez added, "It may seem unusual to say this after a 7-0 loss but I feel this was exactly the game we needed at this point in the season because we played the best USCAA team in the country on the tail end of a back to back weekend, traveling to them, and playing with a short bench and still we played with a pace and urgency that I had not seen in the last few games. I was proud of our team and I think they now know what they are capable of."
The Mustangs are back in action with a triple-header on the road next weekend going to USCAA Div I Bryant & Stratton-Albany on Friday, followed by two crucial Yankee Conference games, one at Paul Smith's College (NY) on Saturday and then finishing up in Randolph Center, VT with Vermont Technical Institute.
