GORHAM – Under the lights at Gorham High School, two powers of Western Class A soccer met for the first time in 2010 on Sept. 14. And for three quarters of the game things were as tight between the Gorham Rams (3-1) and the Windham Eagles (2-1-1) as they could be – that is, until Gorham sophomore forward Connor Reagan hit two clutch goals in under two minutes to put the Rams in control of the contest that Gorham would win by a final score of 3-1.

“Connor Reagan is a great striker,” said Gorham Head Coach Tim King. “He’s only a sophomore, he was our leading goal-scorer as a freshman last year, and he is tremendously quick. He’s very composed and he knows how to finish, so he’s something to deal with for any defensive team.”

The game opened decidedly in the Rams’ favor, with Gorham pressing the attack and getting off several close shots. The game remained tied at 0-0 until just under 17 minutes in, when Reagan took a pass through the Windham defense from senior back Seth Wing that Reagan was able to put over the shoulder of Eagle keeper Benjamin Noble.

“On the first one there was a slot through the back, and Seth Wing put the ball through it,” Reagan said. “I was just there as it came through, and I was able to kick it into the back of the net.”

The Eagles were hurting, but hardly out of the fray, and Windham responded in kind almost immediately. Just 37 seconds after Reagan gave Gorham the 1-0 lead, Windham retied the game on a corner kick by senior Brandon Shaw that was batted down and into the net by senior Brandon Hodge. The tide seemed to have turned.

“I thought it was a competitive game, and it went in waves,” said Windham Head Coach Paul Baber. “I thought they had the first 20 minutes, we had the next 20 minutes, we had the first 10 minutes at the half, and really – it seemed to me –whoever got that second goal, was going to go ahead.”

Both teams continued to battle at the beginning of the second half. Just under six minutes in, Gorham junior midfielder Kevin Lubelczyk hit a screaming shot at the Windham net that was barely saved by Noble. The Eagles had chances of their own, and there was none better than at 24:28 left when junior Dana King hit a long floater towards the Rams’ net that was bobbled by Gorham keeper Carter Bowers. Junior McGyver Poulin came racing in to attempt the easy put-in, but Bowers was able to regain control at the last second.

“We believe we’ve got a very, very good team,” King said. “I thought that in the middle of the game it kind of played at their pace a little bit, but we were still very confident in the way we were playing and thought we were going to get a couple and of course we did.”

The decisive moment for the Rams came with 15:25 remaining, when Reagan, virtually uncovered on the right side of the net, took a pass from junior forward Drew Hopkins and crushed a shot from left to right that Noble had no chance to make a play on. The goal seemed to cause a chain reaction for the Eagles, who started giving up a series of major, field-length breakaways to the Rams. The last of these, engineered by Lubelczyk, was passed off at the last second to Reagan, who booted it in to complete the hat trick. Gorham never looked back, and finished the night with a strong defensive effort that allowed Windham few chances for a comeback.

“I was disappointed, because we have usually got the attitude to come back and fight, and I felt that we lacked a little bit of that today,” Baber said. “I thought they outworked us today – not outplayed – but definitely outworked us.”

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