Castine, ME - The CMCC women's soccer team went on the road for the first time in 2024, but fell 4-2 at the hands of Maine Maritime Academy. Lily Caban and Olivia Varney had the goals for the Mustangs in the loss.
Central Maine fell behind early in the match on a strike from senior Kirra Magana, but got back into it thanks to a long-range effort from Caban. The sophomore midfielder received a pass from Bianca Gilmore in the middle of the Mariners half and ripped a shot into the bottom left corner to tie things at 1-1. It was the Mt. Vernon, ME native's first goal of the season.
The score stayed that way until halftime, but Maine Maritime would jump out to the lead in the second half. First, Magana tallied her second of the contest to make it 2-1.
The third Mariners goal came from a bit of bad luck. A cross into the box pinballed off the leg of Madison Valentine and deflected into the net to make it 3-1. Maine Maritime added another from Sophia Hernandez to make it 4-1 midway through the second half.
Varney gave the Mustangs a consolation prize with a nice finish late in the match. The freshman from Pittsfield, ME was put through on goal thanks to a great pass from Emily Dillman. Varney got to the top of the penalty area and fired home her first career collegiate goal to make it 4-2.
The loss drops the Mustangs to (0-2-0) to start the year, but head coach Rob Rodriguez still found some positives from this early season match-up.
"Overall, it was a much better game for us," said the head coach in his 10th season. "We fixed a lot of the things that went wrong on Wednesday. We're still looking at different player combinations and formations. It's still very much experimental mode at this point in the season, but I'm happier with how we played overall."
This marked the first of four straight games on the road for CMCC women's soccer. The Mustangs continue their stretch against NCAA DIII opponents by taking on Thomas College, Vermont State University-Johnson, and Husson University. They next return home to take on arch rivals Southern Maine Community College on Wednesday, September 18th at 4 pm.
