South Portland, ME – CMCC Women's Soccer picked up a second straight draw against archrival SMCC this season, after battling to a 1-1 tie on the road at the Wainwright Sports Complex. Mikayla Martorano scored the equalizer for the Mustangs in the 65th minute against her former team.
Central Maine nearly found the breakthrough in the 17th minute. Emma Koch found Martorano on the right wing, who played a through pass in behind for Jaelyn Poitras to chase after. The speedy forward was at full stretch to try and beat goalkeeper Aubrey Gilbert to the ball, but was ruled to have reached it a split-second too late, picking up a yellow card after a heavy collision.
The Seawolves took the lead midway through the first half. Ellie Schlichting subbed into the match in the 20th minute and got her name on the scoresheet just two minutes later. The forward received a pass at the top of the box and played the give-and-go to Alexis Kelsea in the area. Kelsea juked her way past Bianca Gilmore on the end line before squaring a pass to the wide open Schlichting for the tap-in.
In the second half, the CMCC offense came to life. Gloria San Pedro and Jaelyn Poitras each had a chance in the box, but couldn't fire shots home. The equalizer did eventually come in the 65th minute. Lily Caban picked out former Seawolf Martorano with a left-footed pass that split the defense. The Gorham, ME native put a shot past Gilbert that clipped the underside of the bar and came down before spinning back out into the box. Confusion reigned for a moment, but the assistant referee signaled that the ball had crossed the line for Martorano's sixth goal of the campaign.
Central Maine had four more shots on goal the rest of the way, but could not find a winning goal. It was the fourth draw this season for the Mustangs and third in conference play, leaving the squad with a 3-1-3 record against YSCC opponents.
They next travel to NHTI on Thursday for a rematch against the league-leading Lynx. Kick-off is scheduled for 4:00 pm.
