With his back to the net, Kevin Voter had only a general idea about where to flick the ball.
“All I thought about doing,” said the senior from Sanford High, “was just hitting it over my head, to skip it over to the next person or into the goal. And it happened to go in.”
The ball continued to bounce Sanford’s way Tuesday night as the visiting Spartans beat Deering 2-0 in Class A South boys’ soccer action for their fourth victory in five games. Coming on the heels of a five-game losing streak, the recent stretch of success lifted Sanford to 6-6 and all but guaranteed a playoff berth for a team that missed out on the postseason last fall.
Sekeriye Abdullahi of Deering has a great chance in the second half as he gets his foot on the ball in front of Sanford senior keeper Garrett Gallant.
“It should lock up a spot,” said Sanford Coach Tim Fecteau, whose team doubled its victory total from a year ago. The Spartans entered the game ranked 10th in Heal points among the 17 teams in Class A South. Twelve teams qualify for playoffs.
Deering, meanwhile, entered at No. 12 and dropped to 4-7-1. The Rams have managed only one goal over their past six games after a 4-2 start to the season.
On Tuesday night, Deering held a 12-10 advantage in shots on goal but many of them came from outside the box, rarely taxing Sanford goalkeeper Garrett Gallant.
Bernard Ndayishimiye of Deering tries to win a header over Kevin Voter of Sanford in the first half Tuesday. Voter scored Sanford’s first goal in a 2-0 victory for the Spartans.
“We’re not continuing our runs,” Deering Coach Joel Costigan said. “There’s a lot of ball-watching. Surprisingly, I thought this game was better. We won a lot of head balls, which has been something we’ve struggled with. I thought we played tougher, but the finishing is not there.”
Sanford scored once in each half. In the 31st minute, a free kick from 35 yards by Cole Randt went right to Voter, who flicked it past oncoming Deering keeper Maxwell Marrione. The Spartans made it 2-0 in the 58th minute, when senior Alex Kirven buried the rebound of a shot by freshman Justin Gould. Senior Isaac Plante made it all possible by splitting defenders in the far corner and feeding Gould directly in front of Marrione, who made the initial save.
“Coach always tells the wingers to stay outside,” Kirven said. “He always says the ball will come to you, and it ended up coming to me.”
A minute later, Plante nearly had a third goal after Marrione came out to challenge him and managed to temporarily knock the ball away, but Deering defensive back Lucas Jasonides filled in and booted away a long shot from Plante.
Kevin Voter of Sanford heads the ball past Deering keeper Maxwell Morrione to open the scoring in the first half of the Red Storm’s 2-0 win Tuesday at Deering.
Bernard Ndayishimiye in the first half and Alex Rubin in the second had Deering’s best scoring chances, but Gallant saved the first drive and got help from the crossbar on Rubin’s redirection.
“They had a few good shots,” said Gallant, who praised the play of backs Ethan Hoenig, Alan Nichols, Will Kiley, Kevin Voter and Kurtis Voter. “But we’ve got a solid defense and we can rely on them.”
Each team has two games remaining in the regular season.
Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or
Twitter: GlennJordanPPH
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