Rec soccer update
The fall soccer season started off great with a triple header last Tuesday featuring all the fifth and sixth grade teams.
In the first game, the Express faced off with the Sting, who jumped out to an early lead not to look back. The first goal was scored by Emma Beaulieu with a beautiful pass across the middle from Randon Mortland in the first minute of the contest. The initial goal of the game woke the sleeping defense of the Express.
Express held their own until Mortland got a quick water break and came back onto the field to score around the 14th minute of the contest. After his goal, the flood gates opened in the first half with Adam Paterson scoring an unassisted goal followed by RJ Gross scoring from a Paterson lead pass and Natalie Bates closing the door in the half with a laser to the back of the net from Jack Beaulieu.
The Express had a big hill to climb to get back into the game. The Express shut down the high-powered offense of the Sting in the second period of play with Maxx Langille, Tyler Levesque and keeper Ian Franz holding their own on defense, while Brittany Warner, Isaac Madore, Alex Brewer and Haley St. Thomas all put the pressure offensively on the Sting defense and goalie Matthew O’Connell, but came up short, 5-0.
In the middle game of the day, the Mutiny hosted the Crew. The two teams fought hard for the first seven minutes of the game until a scramble in front of the net resulted in Madison Bearden of the Mutiny sneaking the ball past the Crew goalie to get the ball rolling. Shortly after, Denny Young of the Crew drilled the ball into the net to tie the score.
In the second half, the Mutiny’s Austin Moreau had a tally with an assist from Gavin Kelley, who made a fantastic pass in front of the goal for Moreau to finish. After a few minutes of battling back and forth, Kyle Plourde gave Mutiny some breathing room with a pass from Connor McManus up field. Plourde made a couple moves around the worn out defense of the Crew and blistered the ball into the goal.
As the game continued on with approximately 10 minutes left, Bearden had an additional burst of energy to get through the midfielders and fullbacks of the Crew and took a beautiful shot toward the far post to put the final nail in the Crew’s coffin notching the score 4-1. Goalie Pat Cash of the Mutiny was like a human vacuum in the net, stopping shot after shot in the contest. Also for Crew’s efforts on the field, Emily Wheaton and Jack Bonville played very well in the losing effort.
The final game of the afternoon was the most exciting of the day, featuring a true see-saw battle between the Clash and the Rapids. The game started off with both teams playing defensive-styled soccer when a hand ball occurred inside the penalty area. The penalty kick was taken by Rapids striker Ethan Clark, who drilled the crossbar on the kick which deflected off a Clash defenseman, back into the goal to break the ice.
After the initial goal of the game, the fireworks ensued. Ryle Mortland of the Clash, merely one minute after the previous goal was scored, received a great pass from Yessenia Vilar and tied the match at 1-1. A few minutes after, Griffen Guerrette of the Rapids chipped a corner kick to the middle of the goalie box and Ethan Clark headed the ball passed the goalie to regain the lead. The half ended with the Rapids holding a 2-1 lead.
As the second half began, Jordan Bonville of the Clash made a few nice moves to advance the ball to an open area where he laid the ball out in front of center defenseman Caleb Page, who unleashed his cannon to the upper 90 of the goal to even the score at 2-2. At this point of the contest the athletes stepped up their games and the Rapids defenseman David Kofstad pressured goalie Colin Daigle until he was able to finish off the play with a goal to put the Rapids back on top for a third time. Unfortunately for the Rapids, Clash striker Ryle Mortland took over and weaved his way from one end line to the opposing goal and made a great shot, not to be stopped by a professional goalie, to bring the game back to 3-3.
For the next 7-10 minutes, the game’s intensity was heightened even more. Both teams were playing wore down when Guerrette wanted to make himself known as he made a spectacular play by stealing the ball at midfield and finishing the game off torching the net for a final of 4-3.
