WATERVILLE — Winslow girls soccer coach Shawn Carey knows there’s no way his team can slug it out with high-scoring Waterville.
In Winslow’s second meeting this season against the Purple Panthers on Tuesday, the Black Raiders coach employed the same strategy as he did in the first — pack it on defense and hope for a break on offense.
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It worked on a couple of levels but didn’t prevent Waterville from winning 3-0 and remaining undefeated in Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B play.
Senior Colleen O’Donnell scored a goal in each half while junior Lydia Roy added her 17th of the season to help the Purple Panthers stay perfect at 9-0-0. Winslow is 4-3-0.
Waterville controlled the game from start to finish with its short, crisp passing game, going from the middle to the wings and vice versa.
“I think we’re passing well and we’re working on give and go’s to the corners and overlaps,” O’Donnell said. “We’re working well together.”
Roy scored midway through the first half when she banged in a rebound of a hard shot by Pilar Elias. Winslow goalkeeper Hillary Libby made a fine save on Elias but was a sitting duck when the ball bounced to Roy. Libby finished with 17 saves, three of them diving stops, to keep the Black Raiders in the game.
For the second time this season, Winslow kept Elias off the scoreboard. The junior striker transferred from Winslow to Waterville this season and has 23 goals, and Carey made sure there was a defender (usually Autumn Poulin) in her shirt the whole game.
“They were marking her pretty well,” O’Donnell said. “It (leaves) other people open.”
O’Donnell made it 2-0 with just over five minutes left in the first half when she took a cross from Roy and one-timed it into the upper right corner of the net. O’Donnell added her second goal of the game and fourth of the season midway through the second half when Sarah Shoulta placed a corner kick off her foot and she beat Libby cleanly.
“We were sluggish today,” Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. “Technically we played pretty well . . . We can play better. Winslow plays really hard. That’s a really motivated team and they pursue us all over the field.”
Waterville goalie Gabi Martin didn’t make a save until midway into the second half, but the Black Raiders nearly scored late in the game when Poulin hit the crossbar following a corner kick and hit it again on the rebound. So far this season, Waterville has allowed just one goal — in a 10-1 win against Belfast — while scoring 53.
“I thought we played excellent today,” Carey said. “They’re a good team. They move the ball very well they’re very disciplined.”
Gary Hawkins — 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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