Boothbay Region High School’s girls soccer team faced an uphill battle against Class C leader Madison on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at Madison. Madison defeated the Seahawks 9-1.

Coach Ben Powell provided the following report:

“The Seahawks fell to a strong Madison team 9-1 on the road in unseasonably hot conditions. The strategy for Boothbay was to pack in defensively and try to keep the game close into the second half. They did this pretty successfully as they held Madison to a 3-0 lead at halftime, and if not for a couple defensive miscues, could have been much closer. Madison dominated possession in the midfield but they didn’t have many great chances for goals in the first half.

“Unfortunately things broke down a bit in the second half which may have been partially related to exhaustion as the Seahawks only had a few subs. We have to give credit to Madison who capitalized on mistakes early and often and made some great shots when given room to work.

“Boothbay pushed almost all offensive players up in the last 10 minutes in order to try and get a goal, and it worked out great. Reagan Cola beat a few defenders in a run to the end-line and crossed it to Olivia Paolillo who finished with authority. I think this is the first goal we’ve scored against Madison since I’ve been coaching, and it was a beautiful one. A few minutes later we had another great chance on a through ball from Hannah Cola to her sister Reagan, who won a footrace to the ball and had a 1-on-1 with the keeper but shot the ball just a hair wide.

“The Seahawks are sitting just outside the playoffs in the standings and will need to pick up a few more wins to get in. There is a good chance for a win this Friday vs. Mountain Valley, (at home) who lost a lot of seniors this year.”