Coming off Saturday’s scoreless tie against Greely, unbeaten Falmouth needed late-game heroics to avoid a similar result Tuesday.
Matt Polewaczyk scored with a little more than 15 minutes left to lift the Yachtsmen to a 1-0 victory against Waynflete in a Western Maine Conference boys’ soccer game.
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It took the Yachtsmen nearly 65 minutes to get the ball past Milo Belleau, who made 14 saves.
Gabe Mahoney grounded a corner kick from the right side into a crowd of players in front of the Waynflete goal, and Polewaczyk scored from inside the goalie box.
“Sometimes you need to get a break,” Falmouth Coach Dave Halligan said. “We lined a low shot from the corner and we were able to play the ball.”
“The ball got through and Matt was in the right place, right where he should be, and he was able to finish it,” Falmouth midfielder Luke Vilas said.
The Yachtsmen (2-0-2) held an 8-2 edge in corner kicks over the Flyers (2-1), with six in the second half.
“You get enough chances and you’re bound to get a break sooner or later,” Halligan said.
The game pitted Falmouth, a Class A team, against Class C Waynflete, but it wasn’t a mismatch.
“They came at us the whole game,” Vilas said. “They had a great defense, a good offense. They kept us moving the whole game.”
Falmouth had a 26-10 advantage in shots but most of them came from outside the penalty area.
“I’m real proud of my kids,” Waynflete Coach Brandon Salway said. “I thought they played great today. I think in the end (Falmouth’s) depth wore us out a little bit.”
The Yachtsmen substituted as many as six players at a time. The Flyers were unable to counter those numbers when making their substitutions.
“We wanted to win today, don’t get me wrong, but I think it was a pretty positive result in the long run,” Salway said. “I think we can build on this even though it was a loss. We were right there, give or take a play or two.”
The Yachtsmen are slotted in Western Class A and Kennebunk is the lone Class A opponent on their schedule.
Every game is important as far as Heal points are concerned.
“This was a big win for us,” Halligan said. “It was a big points game for us. Waynflete is going to win a lot of games and they’re going to be worth a lot of points.”
The Flyers had a couple of chances in the first half.
In the 18th minute, Falmouth goalie Jesse Melchiskey leaped to tip a long direct kick by Willy Burdick over the crossbar.
In the 25th minute, Melchiskey moved beyond the post to break up a run by Harry Baker-Connick coming down the left side.
“Both those goalies are going to keep their teams in a lot of games,” Halligan said.
Belleau helped to preserve the scoreless tie 13 minutes into the second half when he deflected a shot from Mike Sanzari past the far post when the ball changed direction after glancing off a defender in front of the goalie.
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