YARMOUTH — With four games left in the regular season, it looks as if Yarmouth is gearing up to win its third consecutive Class B boys’ soccer state championship.
The Clippers thoroughly dominated Gray-New Gloucester in a 2-0 win in a Western Maine Conference game Tuesday afternoon.
Yarmouth held a 17-1 edge in shots and a 9-0 edge in corners to improve to 8-2.
“We knew they were going to press us, and their pressure really dictated a lot of the game and influenced what we were going to do and try to do,” GNG Coach Andy Higgins said. “Their pressure causes bad touches, giving the ball away. At times it seemed they had 13 guys out there.”
“When we lost the ball, we didn’t stop working,” Yarmouth Coach Mike Haggerty said. “We didn’t give them quality chances.”
Goalie John Henry Villanueva made 15 saves to keep the Patriots close.
“He is one of the top two goalies in the conference,” Haggerty said. “He’s very athletic and his timing is excellent. He’s a good-sized kid and he covers low really really well.”
Yarmouth opened the scoring 6:24 into the game when Gibson Harnett put a rebound in off Villanueva’s fingertips after the goalie leaped to deflect Tahj Garvey’s blast from well outside the penalty area off the crossbar. The ball came out to Harnett less than 20 yards away and he nailed a one-timer right back at the goal. Villanueva jumped again but was only able to get his fingertips on the ball.
“If we could have gotten into the (second) half with zeros, you never know,” Higgins said. “We didn’t put ourselves into position to do that.”
Villanueva was able to hold the Clippers at bay for the next 60 minutes of play.
With less than 12 minutes left, Max Coury completed the scoring when his low shot from 10 yards out went in off a defender well out of Villanueva’s reach.
It was the fourth consecutive win for the Clippers, whose two losses were to Class A Falmouth, 5-0 on Sept. 15 at Falmouth and 5-3 on Sept. 24 at home.
Yarmouth played without John Lane and Silas Campbell, who were sidelined because of injuries.
“We had two guys out, two guys who play in the back, but we rotated the kids around,” Haggerty said.
It was a disappointing loss for the Patriots, who dropped 6-4-1.
“I’ve got to make sure we are ready to go,” Higgins said. “It’s on me to prepare us better to get us into positions where we can be on the attack more and be as defensive. It’s for me to figure out.”
The Patriots’ next two games are with Greely (Oct. 10) and Falmouth (Oct. 13).
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.