MADISON — The first year of eight-player soccer in the state of Maine belonged to two neighboring schools here in the upper Kennebec Valley.

Madison claimed the Gold Ball on the girls side in 2023, defeating Penquis Valley 3-1 for the state title. Hours later, Carrabec claimed the boys title with a 1-0 victory over Schenck/Stearns in a hard-fought battle.

“It was really cool,” Madison’s Raegan Cowan said of the two schools’ wins in the Nov. 11 state finals at Cony High School. “I was definitely cheering them on. (Our schools) definitely want to beat each other when we play, but we wish them the best.”

A year later both schools hope to contend again with many core players returning from their championship runs. They’ll have to do so with new coaches, though, with Hunter Durland replacing Paul Vicneire at Carrabec and co-coaches Lauren Peters and Mike Walsh taking over for Kayla Carrier at Madison.

Durland comes to Carrabec as one of the youngest (possibly the youngest?) coach in Maine high school soccer. At just 20 years old, he was playing high school soccer just three years ago at Mt. Abram, where he was part of a squad that won three Mountain Valley Conference titles.

Although the place he’s now attending school (Kennebec Valley Community College) doesn’t offer soccer, Durland knew last year that he wanted to stay involved with the game. He coached Carrabec’s middle school boys and girls last year, and after Vicneire’s departure, he felt ready for a step up to varsity soccer.

“This opened up, and I felt it would be good to give it a shot,” said Durland, who lives in nearby New Portland. “It’s a little more serious, and I feel that, even though I’m only two years off of playing soccer myself, I have a good chance to teach a few things I learned from my coach (Darren Allen).”

A year ago, Carrabec took a distinct approach to capture an 18-0 season and state championship. Whereas opponents hoofed the ball forward in an attempt to generate numerous scoring opportunities, the Cobras emphasized possession as they outscored foes 105-5 during the season.

Junior Pete Vicneire said the strategy will be the same under Durland this year. Carrabec has lost some key players in midfielder Lucas Vicneire and forward Christopher Caruso, but the Cobras still have a solid nucleus with Pete Vicneire and Logan Caldwell on defense and Desmond Robinson and Seth Price on attack.

“We’re going to run a 2-4-1 again, which is risky in the back, but as long as we possess, we’ll be good,” Vicneire said. “We focus a lot on conditioning; we want to be able to outrun the other team, and if we can go with the flow, I think we have a good shot to go back-to-back.”

The dynamic of being a particularly young coach — Durland was still in high school when this year’s Carrabec seniors were freshmen — Durland admitted, can be tough at times. Yet he ultimately sees a lot of potential in this group and, like Vicneire, fancies its chances if things go right.

“It’s definitely a learning curve for me to be my age and have to get respect from all the players and have them treat me like an actual coach, but hopefully, we can work through that,” Durland said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, definitely, but I’m hoping we can go undefeated again, if possible.”

Madison girls soccer co-coach Lauren Peters works with the team during practice Wednesday in Madison. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Whereas Durland had success as a player at Mt. Abram, so, too, did Lauren Peters (Hay) at Madison. She was a senior goalkeeper for the Bulldogs in 2017 as the team went 16-2 and claimed the Class C South title, the lone regional championship in program history prior to last year.

Coaching Peters that year? None other than Walsh, who, along with his daughter, Erin Wood, led the Bulldogs to an impressive 42-3-3 mark from 2015-17. After playing three seasons under Walsh in high school, Peters is now thrilled to be coaching with her former mentor this fall.

“It’s fun; I’m really enjoying it,” Peters said. “I think my favorite thing about Coach Walsh is how encouraging he is and easy to talk to. He’s a great guy to have as a coach; I remember loving him as a coach. I worked with him a lot as a goalie, and now, I get to work alongside him.”

Peters and Walsh have a lot of talent at their disposal this fall. At the top of that list is Cowan, whose 58 goals scored last year were second-most of any player in Maine high school girls soccer history (Ella Hosford, Bucksport; 61 in 2021). There’s also Leila Dunphy, a defensive midfielder, and Ella Haynie, an attacking mid.

Like Durland, Peters and Walsh are still getting used to the parameters of short-sided soccer, in which players have much more space to roam. They like the early look of their team, though, with an offense that averaged 6.9 goals per game last year largely in tact and a group that’s overall shown a knack for the game.

“They all have good ball skills, the returning players,” Walsh said. “The new players mostly don’t have any soccer experience at all, but they’re picking it up fast. This is Week 1, and already, I’m impressed with how they’ve improved their ball skills as well.”