South Portland 5

Sanford 0

Ian Raymond scored a pair of goals in the first half to lead South Portland to a 5-0 win over Sanford at Cobb Stadium on Saturday. Red Riots goalkeeper Ryan Chapin earned the shutout with three saves. Four of South Portland’s five goals came in the first half.

“We came out and played hard in the first half,” said South Portland head coach Bryan Hoy. “The second half, Sanford stepped up and played much better. They have a good young team and they could be strong in the next few years.”

The Riots jumped on the board early on an attack less than 10 minutes into the game. Sanford starting goalie Cody Mcfarland made a save on the initial shot, but Raymond was there to knock in the rebound for a quick 1-0 start.

Just over five minutes passed before the Riots were at it again. This time it was Brian Arsneault who brought the ball into the box on the attack. Mcfarland left the net to challenge Arsenault, but was unable to get the ball away and Arsenault scored to give South Portland a 2-0 lead.

“Our midfielders do a nice job getting the ball to our strikers and getting it up quick for a quick attack,” Hoy said. “Our strikers are really fast so when we can get the ball from the midfield to the strikers that’s where we like to score our goals.”

Nemanja Kaurin scored the next South Portland goal 10 minutes later. Mcfarland stopped his initial shot, but the ball deflected off the goalie’s hands and trickled over the line to give the Red Riots a 3-0 lead.

Late in the first half, South Portland scored again when Raymond and Arsenault broke free. Arsenault let the ball fly and Raymond was there to chip it into the net.

The Redskins had a couple of chances in the first half, but their shots were either over the net or wide of it.

South Portland scored their fifth and final goal early in the second half when Tyler Bickford let a shot fly that was deflected by the keeper. And found its way into the twine.

Meanwhile South Portland’s defense kept Sanford at bay and minimized the number of shots they had.

“Our keeper has been excellent all season,” Hoy said. “Tonight he wasn’t tested that much, but he came up with a couple big saves so I’m happy about that.”

South Portland improved to 4-2 with the win and Sanford fell to 0-6.

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