High school soccer playoffs start with a pair of wins

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
UP HIGH — Southern Aroostook’s Cameron Landry, front, tries to head the ball past Limestone-MSSM goalie Bret Butler during Friday afternoon’s boys soccer prelim game in Stacyville. The Warriors won 6-0 to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
Warriors blank Eagles
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    DYER BROOK — It is on to the quarterfinals for the Southern Aroostook boys soccer team after the No. 4 Warriors (10-4-1 overall) blanked 13th seed Limestone-MSSM 6-0 Friday afternoon in Dyer Brook. The Eagles finish at 2-11-2 on the year.
    SACS hosts No. 5 Easton (13-2) Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The Bears shut out No. 12 Ashland (4-11) in a preliminary playoff 3-0. SACS and Easton did not face each other during the regular season, but did face a number of common opponents.
    If SACS is victorious, the Warriors advance to Friday’s semifinal game against the winner of No. 1 Bangor Christian-No. 9 Shead.
    Cody Lassonde had two goals and two assists for SACS. Patrick Goodall added a goal and an assist, while Trenton Cullinan, Cameron Landry and Parker Walker each had one goal.
    Bret Butler made 11 saves on 19 shots for the Eagles. Jesse Boulier made two saves on the only two shots he faced.
    “I would have liked to see more communicating on the field,” Urquhart said. “But we did execute our free kicks and corner kicks quite well today.”
    Eagles coach Jon Hamilton said he was pleased with the energy his team played with.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
HEAD STRONG — SACS’ Matt Tarr, right, goes high into the air to head the ball as teammate Will McGary looks on.
    “We were very aggressive and these guys played with a heart today,” Hamilton said. “We’re a fairly young team (with just two seniors on the roster) and hopefully they will come back next year with more maturity.”
    For the first 10 minutes of play, both squads showed high energy moving the ball. SACS broke the scoring ice with 31:29 to play in the first half as Cullinan headed the ball into the net off a corner kick.
    Goodall made it 2-0 at the 14:00 mark of the first half on a breakaway. Goodall stole the ball for an Eagle defender near midfield, scampered down the right side of the field and unleashed a low, line-drive kick from about 20 yards out just past the hands of a diving Butler in net.
    The third goal of the game came on another corner kick by Lassonde and was booted in by a Limestone-MSSM defender. That 3-0 lead held until halftime.
    “Once you get down three goals, it’s very difficult,” Hamilton said. “They (SACS) are a great, hard-working team. I was very impressed with them today.”
    SACS added three more goals in the second half to pull away with the 6-0 victory.
    Coming into the game, both coaches expressed that the team that won the most free balls would likely come away with the victory.
    “The field is a little wet so we have to make crisp passes and not get into the boot and run game,” Urquhart said.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
HIGH STEPPING — SACS’ Joe Frazier, right, goes up high to kick the ball, but instead gets Limestone-MSSM’s Kevan Villarreal in the midsection.