EASTON, Maine — The Bears’ soccer team established a lot of firsts this season, among them finishing No. 1 in Eastern Maine Class D, going undefeated during the regular season and making it to an Eastern Maine final. Unfortunately, last Wednesday in that championship match, they had to square off against a Bangor Christian team that hadn’t lost since 2010 and had won the last four state titles.
Even though they were playing at home and even scored the game’s first goal, the Bears were unable to come away with the victory as the Patriots rolled, 3-1.
Drew Sotomayor was fouled 12-1/2 minutes into the match making a run down the right sideline, resulting in a Cody Halvorson free kick from 20 yards out which eluded BC goalie Bryon Boutot and just crossed the goal line to give Easton the 1-0 advantage.
It was the first time the Patriots had even trailed in a game in three years, but they didn’t get rattled and Kyle Holmes tallied off a Zac Palmeter assist with 9:32 to go in the half to tie the score.
“Their experience showed,” said fifth-year Easton coach Ryan Shaw of his opponents. “We were curious to see how they would respond being down a goal, but they are a senior-laden group with a good group of leaders who played with confidence.”
Bangor Christian had a couple other good scoring chances later in the half, but Easton threatened as well when it had its first corner kick that Boutot was unable to snare. The ball bounced around inside the 18-yard box before finally being cleared out of bounds.
It wasn’t very long after intermission when Bangor Christian was able to grab the lead.
Just 2:10 in, Jay Bishop took a cross and blasted a hard shot past Easton goalkeeper Jake Flewelling and into the net to give the Pats the advantage.
Easton never folded and had three corner kick opportunities within a four-minute span midway through the half. However, the stingy BC defense stood tall and kept the ball out of the goal.
Bishop ripped a shot that caromed off the crossbar with 12 minutes to play and three minutes later, Holmes recorded his second goal of the contest following a long free kick off the foot of fullback Seth Pearson to provide the insurance Bangor Christian was looking for.
Easton put some more pressure on during the final five minutes of action, but Boutot made two of his five saves and the Patriots were able to advance to their fifth consecutive state championship match, where they beat Richmond Saturday, 2-1, in a game that came down to penalty kicks.
Shaw said the Bears had a hard time getting into an offensive flow throughout the game, but gave the credit to BC.
“They were where they needed to be,” Shaw said. “Good defense disrupts what the other team wants to do and they did an excellent job with that.”
Bishop came away impressed with the way the Bears played throughout.
“They are a very good team and they worked hard against us throughout,” he said. “Their defense had great communication and was tough to break through against.”
One of those defenders, senior captain Hunter Turner, said that despite the defeat, it was a season to remember for his Bears, which finished the year at 15-1-1.
“This group has been a family. We all came to practices going above and beyond wanting to get to this point,” Turner said. “I’m really proud to be part of this team.”
