KENNEBUNK — In a fluid, unpredictable game like soccer, coaches get precious few chances to practice a play just the way it might happen in a game.

Throw-ins into the opposition’s box, however, are one of those rare opportunities, and practice made perfect for Kennebunk on Wednesday night in an early season showdown with Greely.

The Rams scored twice on nearly identical plays in the first half as a Pip Butterfield throw into the Rangers box found Robbie Burns for a flicked header to the back post.

Ryan Keefe got on the end of one to just push it over the goal line, and Burns put the other in the back of the net himself as the Rams took a hard-fought 2-1 win in a high entertaining, highly physical Western Maine Conference game at Veterans Memorial Field.

“It’s nice when something you work on in practice is successful,” Kennebunk coach Nate Bean said. “Robbie is fantastic in the air and he demonstrated that tonight.”

Kennebunk (3-1) didn’t wait to grab the opener, as a run by Griffin Drigotas down the left side won a throw just on the edge of the 18 just over a minute in. Butterfield whipped his throw into the box on a straight line and an unmarked Burns sent the ball on towards the back post, with Keefe to quickest to it for a deflection in.

“That’s how we work on it in practice,” Burns said. “I’m the target and we practice those quite a bit. I hope to get some screens in front of me and get open to get a semi-free header, head it to the back post and hope for the best. The best happened.”

The Rangers (2-1-1) went on to largely dominate play for the next 25 minutes as speedy forward Jacob Nason caused headaches for the Kennebunk back line, with the Rams twice having to scramble the ball off their goal line.

But lighting struck twice with 11:07 remaining in the half, this time from the right sideline. Butterfield again whipped a low throw into the Greely box, and again Burns was the fastest to it, heading the ball across the box and into the far corner as Rangers goalkeeper Alex McAdoo was left with no chance.

“I was surprised it happened again,” Burns said. “They had four or five guys around me but if the ball goes right where I’m running there’s not much they can do.”

Playing catch up, Greely started the second half much the way it had played the first, pressing the Rams deep into their own end but finding a much-needed goal elusive.

The breakthrough did come with 18:47 left as Aidan Black won the ball off his defender and streaked into the box from the left, drilling a low shot just inside the near post and under goalkeeper Ben Wilson’s hands.

Spurred on, the Rangers pushed for a second and almost had the equalizer with 4:40 left as a corner fell to Nason at the far post. But the sophomore drilled his shot off the post, and the Rams escaped with the one-goal victory.

“We’ve always had trouble in the second halves but we held it together,” Burns said. “We were going out to try to win the game and not play not to lose. That was the talk at half and we did a nice job of doing that. It was tough on Ben to let that goal in, but we picked him up.”

Holding on to the 2-0 edge was especially critical for Kennebunk after giving up a 1-0 halftime lead in a 2-1 overtime loss to defending Class B state champions Falmouth a week before. The Rams will see both Falmouth and Greely again, as well as contenders York, Yarmouth and Cape Elizabeth all twice as well.

With that kind of schedule, Bean said getting a win against a quality opponent in a contest that had the atmosphere of a late October playoff game was a big stepping stone for his team early on.

“That’s a team that’s got its sights on winning this league, that’s a team that’s got its sights set on winning a state championship and is going to come out every night and compete,” Bean said of Greely. “The challenge for the boys was to come out and compete with them, and they did a good job of that tonight. It was a nice performance.”

—  Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323.