FREEPORT

The Richmond Bobcats boys soccer team has been sitting comfortably in the No. 1 slot in the Western Class D Heal Point Standings with a record of 9-0 entering into Thursday’s contest against the Pine Tree Academy Breakers.

Though the Breakers gave the Bobcats a run for their money, Richmond came out on top, 2-0, moving to a perfect 10-0. Pine Tree fell to 7-3- 1 on the year, but proved it was a force to be reckoned with, dominating play for a majority of the game but coming up short on prime scoring opportunities.

“We had to work awfully hard, terribly hard,” Bobcats head coach Peter Gardner said. “(Pine Tree) did an awesome job, they had plenty of chances.”

One of those chances for the Breakers came just four minutes into the game. With a shot from 25-yards out off the foot of Andrew Alvarez, Bobcats goalie Zach Small watched as the laser hit off the bottom of the crossbar and down to the goal-line. Small immediately reacted and saved his team from trailing 1-0 early.

Over the course of the next 10 minutes, the Bobcats worked their way into the offensive zone, but were put to the test by the Breakers defense, especially Isaac Stong who continuously battled with the Richmond front-line, clearing the ball numerous times out of harms way.

Blake Breaks Breakers

The Bobcats grabbed the first goal of the game with under 23 minutes left in the half. Senior Marcus Blake lined up for a corner kick and struck it into the cluster, finding teammate Mike Stewart, who took only one touch to launch it past Breakers goaltender Ryan Pierce and put his team up by one.

Richmond had a chance to open the game up just three minutes later as the aforementioned pair of Blake and Stewart matched-up again. This time Stewart crossed a pass to Blake, who was 10 yards from the goal, but Blake’s header missed wideleft of the net.

The Bobcats forward had a number of opportunities to score and was later praised by his coach for the intensity and hard work displayed in the contest.

“(Blake) is incredible,” Gardner said of his forward. “He has such good understanding of the game and some of the stuff he does is brilliant.”

Gardner went on to say that the performance Blake put on in the game is the same way he performs in practice and that, “This is why he has the ability to play that way in a game.”

Pine Tree went back to work, making smooth, quick passes as well as finding the ability to work around the Bobcats defense and coming up with its second quality scoring chance of the half with under seven minutes to play. After being awarded a free-kick from 20-yards out, Breakers Sam Delaware fired a rocket past the Bobcats defensive wall, but Small was lined-up with the kick and ended yet another Breakers threat.

The Breakers continued their attack in the second half, coming close to tying the game with 19 minutes left when Jakub Kryzwon zig-zagged his way around the Bobcats defensive line and took a shot past the dive of Small and out of play, forcing a collective gasp from the fans on the sidelines.

Richmond put the dagger in the Breakers’ back with 4:37 left when a loose ball in the box was picked up by Cameron Emmons, who fired it into the cage and put the Bobcats up 2-0 and eventually sealing the win.

“We worked hard and there were a lot of things that didn’t work right,” Gardner said. “But at least they worked hard and I think that’s what made the difference.”

The Bobcats have a quick turnaround from Thursday’s contest, jumping back on the bus this morning to travel to Vinalhaven/North Haven for a 12:30 p.m. start.

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