Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

October 25, 2012

Boys' soccer: Bears bad news for Freeport

Undefeated Maranacook readies for defending champion Falmouth.

By Gary Hawkins ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

READFIELD - The Maranacook boys' soccer team has yet to take a Western Maine Conference opponent for granted, given the WMC's penchant for producing state champions.

So Freeport's 10th seeding and four wins meant little when the undefeated Black Bears hosted the Falcons in a Western Maine Class B quarterfinal Wednesday night. Turns out the records were an accurate reflection of where the teams stood as Maranacook controlled play and cruised to a 4-1 victory.

Second-seeded Maranacook (13-0-2) will host No. 3 Falmouth on Saturday while Freeport closed its season at 4-10-2.

The Black Bears controlled play the whole way, outshooting the Falcons, 18-6. Sophomore Kody Solmitz and freshman Kent Mohlar scored for Maranacook in the first half while Zach Elwell and Alex Tooth tallied second-half goals. Connor Dietrich scored for Freeport.

"Their size and intensity and aggressive play definitely put us on our heels and kept us from executing what we wanted to do on the field," Freeport Coach Joe Heathco said.

Maranacook won the battle for 50-50 balls in a game that grew more physical as it wore on. The Black Bears scored the first goal after Freeport keeper Brendan Qualls was caught out of his goal in pursuit of a loose ball. Solmitz's shot from the right side bounced off a defender and into the net.

"We saw they beat Spruce Mountain 7-0 (in a prelim game) so we knew they were going to be difficult," Elwell said. "Even as a 10 seed we knew it was going to be a good game."

Mohlar made it 2-0 just before halftime after Qualls made a save and the rebound bounced his way.

"(Alec) Daigle had a nice shot there and it came off the keeper and I just kind of like got it on my body and put it in," Mohlar said.

The Black Bears turned up the pressure in the second half and held the Falcons to two shots. Both Erling Vingelsgaard and Elwell narrowly missed goals before Elwell put one in following a throw-in.

"Taylor Wilbur throws the ball a mile and he threw it right to the 12," Elwell said. "One of our kids tried to head it in and I jumped up in the air and kicked it. It's what we call on our team a Ninja kick."

The Falcons cut the lead to 3-1 with 14:36 left when Dietrich's shot from 30 yards arched over the arms of Maranacook keeper A.J. Freeman. The Black Bears got that goal back four minutes later when Tooth followed Vingelsgaard's direct kick into the goal after it bounced off a defender.

Maranacook faces a Falmouth team that has won four of the last six state championships, including last year's.

"What nice about that is we have home-field advantage," Elwell said. "We've seen them play, we know who to mark. We have a whole game plan for them."

 

Tweet