YARMOUTH — The Yarmouth High boys’ soccer team pursues and pesters opponents, and its players are ready to pounce at any time.

That’s what they did in a 3-1 victory over Greely in a Class B South semifinal Saturday afternoon.

Matthew Dostie scored two goals and Patrick Grant added another to lead the second-seeded Clippers (14-1-1) into the regional final Wednesday at top-seeded Maranacook (16-0).

No. 3 Greely finished with a 9-4-3 record, but was 0-2-1 against Yarmouth.

“They’re very good,” Greely Coach Mike Andreasen said. “We have a few holes at times, and they find them. That’s what it is about a good team.”

The Clippers quickly but Greely in a hole. Midfielder Nicholas Kamra won a ball on the right sideline and sent it up to Grant. He tried to center it, but it was headed out. Midfielder Henry Coolidge was right there to collect the ball and send it back to Dostie, who blasted a shot just under the crossbar, 40 seconds into the game.

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It would be a recurring theme, especially with Coolidge and midfielder Luke Groothoff controlling the flow.

“Both do a good job calming the game,” Yarmouth Coach Mike Hagerty said. “When the ball is on their foot, the game slows down.”

Greely answered almost seven minutes later. Henry Melville fed Nick Pronovost down the right sideline. He crossed it, and Hunter Graham kicked it in at 7:15, tying the game.

Yarmouth’s defensive trio of Matthew Beatty, Conor O’Donnell and Andrew Beatty re-grouped and stifled the Rangers after that, in front of goalkeeper Cal Owen.

Late in the half, Andrew Beatty sent a long ball into the Greely box. The Rangers tried to head it out, but the ball went right to Grant, who scored at 34:50 for a 2-1 halftime lead.

Early in the second half, Greely was pressuring when Yarmouth cleared the ball to Groothoff. He dribbled down and passed to Dostie, who used his left foot for another high, hard shot that found the back of the net.

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“Dostie can hit a ball, with his left or his right,” Hagerty said. “He stopped worrying about hitting it as hard as he could and just focused on using good form.”

The counterattack stymied Greely.

“I thought we had a goal, and then they came down and scored,” Andreasen said. “Isn’t that how it works?

“Our kids played hard. They have a ton of heart. But (Yarmouth) was a little bit better.”

Yarmouth had other chances, but Greely keeper Brandon George and back Austin Nowinski were strong throughout the game.

After facing a familiar opponent in Greely, Yarmouth now plays No. 1 Maranacook for the first time.

“We want to show them what our (Western Maine) conference is all about,” Hagerty said.


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