{"id":6811,"date":"2021-10-18T09:48:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T13:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6811"},"modified":"2025-08-22T19:05:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T23:05:27","slug":"raw-energy-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/10\/18\/raw-energy-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw Energy Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

After last season\u2019s restrictions, Presque Isle soccer teams thrive on their hometown support<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a warm, late September\u2019s night at the Presque Isle Middle School\u2019s turf field, a rivalry girls game between Presque Isle and Caribou. Having ended regulation tied at 1 goal apiece, and now with 30 seconds to go in double overtime, a tie was all but inevitable. But Presque Isle had other ideas, as Olivia Kohlbacher banged home a rebound goal to win the game with 14 seconds remaining in the second overtime. The Presque Isle girls celebrated, having just stolen a win from their rivals. The large crowd roared for their hometown team\u2019s exciting win. In any other season, the roar of a crowd after an exciting finish would have been a normal occurrence, void of any reflection and gratitude. But the year 2021 is not just any other soccer season.<\/p>\n

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A packed student section cheers on at a September 27th Girls game vs. Caribou- via Dave Allen.<\/p><\/div>\n

In September of 2020, high school athletes across the state of Maine had no idea if they would have a sports season. It was during the height of the pandemic, and a vaccine seemed eons away. Finally, games were permitted to start in the last week of September with a number of restrictions for each fall sport. For soccer, those included mid-halftime sanitization breaks, wearing face coverings whenever not in the game, players who didn\u2019t have their mouthguard in their mouth were sent off the field by officials. But most noticeably, a decrease in the number of fans. The limit was 100 people: this included players, coaches and officials. In Presque Isle, each player could invite two fans. This created an awkward atmosphere for home games. No doubt every school across the state of Maine and beyond felt this.<\/p>\n

The raw energy of high school sports is an incomparable element. The passion for one\u2019s hometown and high school creates tremendous atmospheres for student-athletes to play in. This brings communities together, arguably more than anything, at least in rural northern Maine. This energy was absent in 2020. But in 2021, with the pandemic hopefully in its waning stages, high school sports have seemingly found a return to normalcy. The overtime thriller between Presque Isle and Caribou was exactly what was missing from 2020. Student sections ruled again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Senior soccer player and notable student section lead voice when his team is not playing, Ethan Shaw, takes pride in being able to support the girls team as a fan. \u201cI think we all do our fair share in cheering for our teams while at games.\u201d Shaw humbly accepted the nomination as being the leader of the student section. His voice is heard across the entire athletic complex no matter how windy it is or how loud the rest of the crowd may be. \u201cThere are definitely those few people, myself included, who are the loudest and get the whole student section loud and crazy.\u201d Shaw says he missed attending games as a student. However, \u201cIt\u2019s made the hype of a regular season that much more enjoyable this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Senior Ethan Shaw, stumbles over fellow senior goalkeeper, Xavier McAtee to save a goal- via Dave Allen.<\/p><\/div>\n

As for Ethan\u2019s boys team, they won the Aroostook League championship in last year\u2019s abbreviated locally based season. They have continued their success from last season and have remained undefeated through the regular season. Shaw attributes some of his team\u2019s success to Wildcat Nation. \u201cOur fan presence hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed.\u201d The Presque Isle boys sit atop their region\u2019s standings at 11 wins and one tie and are the clear favorite to clinch the top seed in Class B Boys North. Being the top seed means clinching homefield advantage all the way through the regional finals. \u201cOur home field is turf, which has a huge effect on the way a game can be played. But I think our fans have just as much of an impact on the game as the field we\u2019re playing on does,\u201d Shaw said, anticipating possible advantages his team may have in the postseason. \u201cBeing able to play on a field you\u2019re comfortable with, while having fans you love playing in front of, will definitely have an impact on our team\u2019s success.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Presque Isle boys were to advance to the state championship, they would have to travel more than five hours. No doubt Wildcat Nation will make that trek in support for their players and their community. For the Presque Isle soccer teams and everyone involved in fall sports, this year is a reminder not to take the little things, such as the raw energy and passion high school sports bring, for granted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After last season\u2019s restrictions, Presque Isle soccer teams thrive on their hometown support It was a warm, late September\u2019s night at the Presque Isle Middle School\u2019s turf field, a rivalry girls game between Presque Isle and Caribou. Having ended regulation tied at 1 goal apiece, and now with 30 seconds to go in double overtime, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8237,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6811\/revisions\/8237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}