Cumberland (Ari's team) met Bangor first, and we were surprised by how well Bangor played. Ari started and played a defender of some kind (some kind of "double sweeper defense"?) The game went 0-0 through double overtime and Cumberland ended up winning by 1 on penalty shots. Ari played really well, making a goal saving hard run to shut down a play by taking the ball out at the last second at the goal line -- but was tripped (a real, no-bull, on-purpose, back foot kick kind of trip) for her trouble and came down hard on that same right wrist that she'd injured last week. She went out for that game not long into the second half.

Against Scarbough Ari again started, having added a wrist brace and more taping to the arm. Cumberland played a great game and just got beat to the ball too many times. They actually controlled a lot of the game, had several good shots on goal, and played fairly well. Scarbough just played very very fast up front and they had a couple of players we couldn't contain for a lot of the game. For her part, Ari locked up her side of the field and at one point nearly scored from mid, but then got slide tackled and went down again hard mid way through the second half -- this time for good. Scarbough played a mostly clean game, and a fast one. Cumberland has a habit of waiting for the ball to come to them on a pass and every time they did that Scarbough stepped in and got in the way of it. The girls learned and really controlled the second half well -- but it wasn't enough. Cumberland ended the season #2 in Girls Division 1 for U13 in the state.

Ari's wrist is good and sore but not swollen or visibly bruised so I suspect it's not broken. There may be a soft tissue thing going on, but nothing showed up on the x-ray initially. We're waiting for the final word from the radiologist on that. I don't think the injury will keep her out any, though she may need to avoid hard physical games for a few weeks. I'm fairly sure we can accommodate that.

Whew, the fall soccer season is over. Oh, but wait, the Premier season starts the 19th -- indoor practices through the winter on Saturday in the gym at the University of Southern Maine, and Tuesday nights on the turf at Portland Sports. Games start in January for the indoor season, then by March we're going out of state for an early tournament to get some time on the grass before the season in Maine officially starts. Two of the girls on the team that beat Ari's yesterday are on her team for the winter and spring.