FALMOUTH — Moments before Falmouth’s Nate Arrants delivered the winning goal on a penalty kick to beat Deering 2-1 in boys’ soccer Tuesday night, he was reminded by teammates to remember a recent team dinner they had at Eli Friedman’s house.

“One of the guys just kept telling me to think of Eli’s house, think of Eli’s house, because I just kept putting them in on a kids goal there,” said Arrants. “It made me think to myself, ‘yeah, I can do this. I can place this in the corner.'”

Taking aim on a regulation-size net, Arrants showed no trouble burying a low drive into the bottom left corner with 2:45 left in the game. He’s making something of a habit of finishing those chances, having scored twice on penalty kicks earlier this year in a win over Noble.

“Since the Noble game, I’ve put in a lot of work to make sure I can finish those,” said Arrants. “I was so nervous in the Noble game and I wanted to make sure I’d be more comfortable because they’re usually in big spots. We practice them a lot, and sometimes after practice we’ll just stick around and make sure we’re placing them well.”

The penalty shot came a result of a handball in the box – a call many on the Deering side didn’t agree with.

“I couldn’t tell from this angle,” said Deering Coach Joel Costigan. “I know that handballs are always discretion and interpretation. I wasn’t there to see it but I would say one of the things I always want is the referee to call the game as they see it. If it’s a handball, it’s a handball; If it’s a penalty it’s a penalty; If it’s a penalty kick, it’s a penalty kick.”

The Yachtsmen (7-1) opened the scoring with 10:13 to play in the first half. Arrants took a corner kick and sent a perfect pass into the middle of the box, connecting with Brendan Hickey. Hickey headed the ball past Deering sophomore keeper Max Morrione (six saves).

The Rams tied the game when Louange Turahimbawe stole the ball in the attacking zone and sent a blast into the bottom left corner.

“Falmouth controlled the play tonight,” said Costigan. “They spread us wide and controlled the center midfield spots. We tried to transition on them, which is why we were able to score that goal. We had a couple other opportunities that just didn’t click.”

Falmouth got a very strong defensive showing from its midfielders and defensive backs, despite losing seniors Sam Winkeler and Hickey to injury in the first half. Seamus O’Brien, Sam Manganello, Owen Mahoney and Joe Dye anchored the performance

“We have a lot of kids and Coach Halligan tells them all the time ‘you don’t know when you’re going to step up and it might be your time,'” said assistant Todd Whitcomb, who was filling in for David Halligan. “That’s part of being a great team – you need to be able to move a couple of slots.”

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