CUMBERLAND — After losing two games in a row, Greely tried to get its groove back against Gray-New Gloucester in a Western Maine Conference boys’ soccer game Wednesday night.

The Rangers scored after being shut out by Yarmouth and Falmouth, but it still wasn’t enough against the feisty Patriots, who held on for a 1-1 draw.

“Tonight, we did do a lot of good things,” Greely Coach Mike Andreasen said. “We had a lot of shots. We played well enough to win the game, but you’ve still got to put the ball in the goal. You can do everything but score, and that’s what we did pretty much.”

“We’ll take that result,” G-NG Coach Andy Higgins said. “I would have loved to see us hold on to the 1-0 lead and get out of here with a win, but we’ll take that result.”

In the recent years, the Patriots have played the Rangers tough but have ended up with nothing to show for it.

“Our last three regular seasons leading up to now, we’ve lost 1-0 to these guys,” Higgins said. “Last year, on this same day, we lost to them with three seconds left in double overtime.”

Greely (1-2-1) held a decided territorial edge during the scoreless first half and for much of the second half. Goalie John-Henry Villanueva, who had 14 saves, kept the Patriots in the game.

“In the first half, we could have easily been down 3-0,” Higgins said.

“Johnny Villanueva was just a beast. He made save after save.”

Gray-New Gloucester opened the scoring 19 minutes into the second half on one of its few forays into the Greely defensive third of the field. Liam Stewart sent a direct kick from 35 yards out just inside the left sideline into the far corner for a goal.

“We’ve got be more disciplined on the field,” Andreasen said. “We take a lot of fouls. They scored on a free kick that came off a foul.”

The Patriots (2-1-1) managed to hang on to the lead for more than 12 minutes.

With 5:40 left, Jacob Nason broke in on the right side, got a step on a defender and rolled a shot inside the far post after Villanueva came off his line.

Greely, which held a 12-3 edge in shots during the last 40 minutes of regulation play, had more chances to score down the stretch, but Villanueva made two big saves to maintain the tie.

The Rangers held a 3-2 edge in shots during the two sudden-death, five-minute overtime periods.

In the first overtime, the entire of set of Gray-New Gloucester defenders worked to keep the ball out on the left side of the goal after Villanueva stopped a shot on the right side of the net.

In the second overtime, Stewart broke in alone on the right side and Greely goalie Brandon George leaped to make a sure-handed save on his rising shot from 15 yards.

“I’m really proud of my guys and the way they scratched and clawed,” Higgins said. “I’m glad to get out of here with a draw. It’s going to be big for us down the road.”

“Give (Gray-New Gloucester) credit, they hung with us,” Andreasen said. “They bent but they didn’t break.”

Copy the Story Link