LINCOLNVILLE — The Lincolnville and Searsport soccer teams combined to produce a real barn burner in a playoff game Thursday, Oct. 14 at the LCS pitch.

Both sides battled throughout the game, and it was still tied at three with two minutes left to play. Ultimately, the Lincolnville booters prevailed, but it was a very near run thing.

Searsport got on the board first at the 7:23 mark taking full advantage of a Lynx clear up the middle which they controlled, broke through into the box, and hammered home past keeper Thomas Pickford who had no realistic chance to stop it.

That fired the Lincolnville eleven up as they began to gain an edge in possession.

It only took them three minutes to even the score when Pickford booted a long ball off the ground that a Searsport defender failed to clear with a header allowing striker Mickey Nowell to head it in turn over the defense for breaking winger Maren Johnson. As she controlled the ball, the keeper found herself caught halfway out of the goal so Johnson chipped the ball in over the keeper’s head. It rebounded down off the crossbar, hit the keeper, and despite a fine diving effort to push the ball out, ended up in the net.

The Lynx then extended their lead at 17:45 when stopper Liam Day-Lynch sent a long feed to Nowell, who corralled the ball, beat one defender to the outside right, and then cut in towards the goal before burying a beautiful finish in the back of the net.

Facing a two-goal deficit, it looked like the Vikings might sag, but instead, they came back a minute later and cut the lead with a break up the middle.

It took them two minutes more to find the nets for their third, again finding a hole in the middle to exploit.

The last ten minutes of the half played evenly and the teams went in deadlocked at 3-3.

While the Lynx had the edge in the first half, the momentum definitely switched to the Vikings in the second half as they spent a considerable amount of time in the Lincolnville defensive end.

But with Day-Lynch now playing sweeper, the Vikings were unable to make the final penetrations they did in the first half.

Lincolnville had a number of tries of their own, but it was definitely a half dominated by Searsport.

Until the last two minutes, that is. At that point, Day-Lynch picked up a loose ball in the Lincolnville defensive end near centerfield and staged a masterful, solo drive up the field beating at least three Searsport players on the way before breaking free just outside the box.

Seeing the alert keeper beginning a charge, Day-Lynch launched a shot which the keeper was just able to block, but Day-Lynch pounced on the short rebound and hammered it home before the keeper could react with only 1:32 remaining in the game.

The Lynx held on to run the clock out and earn their way to a game against Hope on Wednesday, October 20 at Hope for the right to enter the league championship the following Monday.

In addition to those already mentioned, the Lynx depended upon Havana Kriste, Natalie Bolduc, Olivia McManus, Jacob Talbot, and Jack Lytton to control the midfield as well as Bryson Hise, Danielle Webber, and Abby Webber to hold the defensive line.

Both teams are to be congratulated on the quality of the effort they put into this game. It was extremely exciting to watch and truly was one of those games that it was a shame that only one team could win.

Ben Edes is the coach of the Lincolnville soccer team.