LINCOLNVILLE — The Lincolnville Lynx earned its way back to the Busline League co-ed soccer championship on a beautiful Monday, Oct. 21 for the ninth time in 13 years courtesy a dominant first half performance that yielded all three of the goals scored against their frequent playoff rivals, the Hope Hawks.

As they did in the quarterfinals, the Lynx eleven started quickly and almost totally controlled the first ten minutes of the game.

That flurry on Lincolnville’s part only yielded a single goal, but it was a quick one tallied at the 1:33 mark.

Midfielder Jaden Johnson started it with a lovely angled, airborne, cross-field pass from the right that landed just behind the Hope defense on the left. Striker Owen McManus, the Lynx’s leading scorer with 30 points so far this season, ran the ball down and tucked a no angle shot past the keeper just inside the near post.

After the ten-minute Lincolnville burst, Hope got their running legs back, and the rest of the half played reasonably evenly.

A high foot dangerous play call at 22:65 gave Lincolnville an indirect kick from about 12 yards over centerfield. Stopper Mason Clark hammered the ball into a crowd clustered in the front of the net that somehow made its way through almost untouched except for finally brushing a Hawk player that redirected the ball past the keeper for a hard luck own goal.

Finally, midfielder Bryce Curtis sent a through pass into McManus who drove nicely around the defense and sent an excellent crossing finish to the far post to beat the keeper.

While the second half did not feature any goals, it did provide a great deal of excitement as the play moved rapidly from end-to-end as each team in succession gained possession and staged dangerous drives in the other’s end.

Lincolnville’s stalwart keeper, Avery Luft made a number of critical saves to preserve the shutout and assure Lincolnville’s ultimate victory.

Disaster almost struck when a Lincolnville defender dropped a Hawk in the Lynx box, but the ensuing penalty kick was not successfully converted.

Time and again, the Hawk’s offense put pressure on the Lynx defensive four of sweeper Roo Boetsch, stoppers Clark (who moved to midfield midway through the half) and Bryce Curtis, and wing defenders Chloe Day-Lynch and Canyon Palise, but they proved equal to the task of containing the persistent Hope players.

Additionally, the Lynx midfielders — Johnson, Sage Burgess, Nathan Oxley, Liam Day-Lynch, and Clark — showed their stamina by constantly running the field to support both the offense and the defense.

Lincolnville will now move on to contest the championship game with a 3:45 p.m. kickoff Wednesday, Oct. 23 at Point Lookout.

Ben Edes is the coach of the Lincolnville soccer team. 

Reach the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com.