Dylan Haley of the Ashland Hornets, left, battles with Easton’s Isaac Currier for possession of the ball during the soccer match played Monday in Ashland. (Kevin Sjoberg)
ASHLAND, Maine — The Easton Bears’ boys soccer team bounced back from a tough loss in its opener to win on the road Monday
.
Following a scoreless first half, Kyle Flewelling broke the deadlock with a goal off a Kooper Kinney assist with 17:41 remaining and Ryan West chipped in with an insurance goal from Camden Michaud with 2:08 left as the Bears bested the Hornets, 2-0.
Collin Sotomayor was outstanding in goal for Easton as he saved 12 of 15 shots. Steven Bellanceau was also solid in collecting seven saves on 10 shots.
Bears’ coach Ryan Shaw said his team shook off a slow start and found its game after intermission.
Alex Kaiser gets off a shot for Ashland while Easton’s Paul Bonner trails the play during Monday’s match in Ashland. (Kevin Sjoberg)
“We were tentative and tried to play the long ball and really got outplayed early,” Shaw said. “We shortened our game and increased the pace in the second half, which made us a different team out there.”
Easton had lost to Madawaska in overtime, 4-3, in its first game of the season Friday. Ashland was playing its first match of the year.
The Hornet girls’ soccer team is off to a good start in defending its Class D state title from last fall.
Ashland made easy work of visiting Easton Monday evening, coming out on top by a score of 8-2.
Noah Hanscomb of the Easton Bears (15) dribbles the ball away from Ashland’s Isaiah McIntyre during Monday’s match in Ashland. (Kevin Sjoberg)
Hornet freshman Willow Hall scored the first goal of the match and added another later. Shelby Stolze, a sophomore, also recorded two goals.
The big story in this game was senior Amber Chasse. Sidelined for a majority of her first three seasons due to knee injuries, Chasse came through with a hat trick and had an assist. Morgan Doughty picked up a goal and an assist.
Delia Bonner and Isabelle Morin netted a goal each for Easton. Delaney Leach was busy in goal as she made 32 saves. Megan Cote handled the goalkeeping chores for Ashland.
Even after a season-opening 17-0 thrashing of Washburn, coach Wallace Endy admitted he was still unsure where his Central Aroostook boys’ soccer team stood.
On Thursday, the Panthers left no doubt they can play with the best teams in Aroostook County after earning a 1-0 road victory over Fort Fairfield.
Junior Ben Thomas scored the only goal of the match with just 9:52 remaining. He took a cross from the wing and ripped a shot from inside the box into the net. The goal stood up as the Panthers won the defensive battle.
“My players played hard and I feel that we had more possessions,” Endy said. “Fort is a very physical team, so you have to be physical too.”
Central Aroostook (2-0) outshot the Tigers 21-11, with the Panthers’ Brayden Bradbury saving six shots for the shutout. Malcolm Langner collected 17 saves for the Tigers, who fell to 1-1.
The Panther girls have also won their first two matches following an 8-1 triumph over the Tigers, also on Thursday.
Sophomore Kate Levesque scored CA’s first two and final two goals and assisted on three others, while freshman Libby Grass netted a pair of goals.
Kayla Martin and Janelle Tweedie also tallied goals for the Panthers, while Kennedy Bencivenga, coming off a four-goal performance against Washburn two days earlier, recorded the Tigers’ lone goal.
CA outshot the Tigers (0-2) by a 39-4 margin. Caitlyn Harris made three saves for the winners.
“We were a little more consistent than we were in our opener because I had my regular starters in at the beginning of the game and they are starting to get more comfortable [with each other],” said Joe Levesque, the Panthers’ head coach.
The Panthers next face two of their more difficult opponents when they host Ashland today at 5 p.m. and play at Southern Aroostook Monday, Aug. 28.
“We will be able to gauge where we are after those games,” he said.
In the Bears’ 4-3 overtime loss at Madawaska Friday, they trailed by two goals before mounting a comeback with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation. Isaac Currier and Camden Michaud then scored goals four minutes apart for Easton to tie it.
The game remained deadlocked through the remainder of the second half and a majority of the overtime before the Owls won it when a clearing attempt by the Bears was deflected off one of their own players and into the net.
“It was a little tough to swallow, but our guys battled hard,” Shaw said. “Our compete level was high and there were a lot of momentum swings.”
“We made some mistakes, but we will get better every day,” added Shaw, who noted that his roster, with nine freshmen and four sophomores, features plenty of inexperienced players.
Flewelling scored off a Currier assist in the first half for the Bears.
In the girls’ game, Madawaska came away with a 14-2 victory. Bear senior Isabelle Morin scored both of her team’s goals.
The Washburn girls improved to 2-1 with a 4-1 home win over Wisdom, also on Friday. Madison Miller, a freshman, scored two first-half goals and Kassie Farley added a pair of insurance tallies in the second half to lead the Beavers’ offense.
Bailey Bellefleur scored a first-half goal for the 0-1 Pioneers.
Beaver coach Marcie Barbarula said her team did a great job containing the Pioneers’ top two scoring threats, Bellefleur and Breanna Lavoie, for most of the game. Barbarula said Sam Churchill and Alexis Carney drew the marking assignments for Washburn and sweeper Katie Easler and goalie Carly Bragg (nine saves on 14 shots) had strong outings.
The Washburn boys fell to 0-3 after a 5-0 loss to Wisdom that afternoon. The Beavers have now been outscored, 32-0, in their first three matches.
