LISBON  — In two Mountain Valley Conference meetings with Dirigo this season, the Lisbon High School boys’ soccer team

put up 13 combined goals in a pair of lopsided wins. 

On Saturday, in the one-and-done world of postseason soccer, the Greyhounds had to refocus as the No. 11 Cougars made a return to Lisbon for a Class C South preliminary round contest. 

For the third straight time, Lisbon, the No. 6 seed, had little problem with Dirigo, scoring early and often en route to a 9-0 win.  

The victory sends the 10-5 Greyhounds to Portland on Wednesday against No. 3 Waynflete, while Dirigo saw its season come to an end with a 5-10 record.  

First-year Lisbon coach Shawn Rhoda ran his team through an interesting week, with the Greyhounds having some fun, focusing hard during a pair of tough practices and enjoying a day off.  

“Our goal was to get ahead after playing from behind a lot during those late tough games that we had,” said Rhoda, whose Greyhounds led 3-0 at the half on Saturday. “We were able to get some rest for our starters. We realized (Dirigo) were down some starters. Now we go to Waynflete and see how we are. 

“It is hard to beat a team three times, and what we did in the season didn’t matter. We focused on that, had a couple good practices and took a day off. We are not thinking past anybody. It is easy to get trapped when that happens.” 

DJ Douglass started Lisbon on the right foot. After Dirigo was whistled for an illegal throw-in, Douglass transitioned quickly through the Cougar defense before slipping a shot past the dive of Dirigo goaltender Derek Ducharme.  

“We talked about it all week in practice, having to start off strong,” said Douglass. “The last days of practice for us were tough, and it was about getting our minds right.” 

Douglass set up teammate Hunter Brissette for a goal four minutes later, and Douglass finished off the first half with his second goal, scoring off a pass from Brissette.  

“I always look for my two forwards, and they are always open and creating an angle for me,” said Brissette, who controlled the middle field with solid ball control.  

Ducharme kept his team within shouting distance in the first half, turning away 13 shots as his Cougars were outshot, 17-0. Plus, Dirigo only dressed 12 players, with injuries keeping five starters out of the game.  

“We had not been in the postseason since 2012, and our goal will be to be a top eight team next year,” said Dirigo coach Bob Karcher.

“We took some steps this year, going from two wins to five wins. We had some injuries, but overall from four years ago, when we scored just four goals the entire season, to 27, it was good.” 

Second-half surge 

Douglass kept the scoring going for Lisbon in the second half. The senior found the back of the net three times over a 2:40 span to double the Greyhound advantage to 6-0 with 29:10 remaining. Brissette picked up two more assists, while Elijah Fullerton, Jack Tibbetts and Ethan Brown chipped in a goal each in the second frame.  

“We ran up against the fourth best team record-wise in the MVC,” Karcher said. “We hung fairly tough in the first half, but we ran out of gas in the second half. 

“Credit to Lisbon. They are solid in all 11 positions, but I thought for what we were up against, I am happy with the effort.” 

Now, the degree of difficulty ramps up for the ’Hounds, with the Flyers waiting. Waynflete enters Wednesday’s game with a 12-2 record, the Flyers’ only losses coming to talented Greely and Yarmouth in Western Maine Conference play.  

“We need to defend and be organized, we need to keep our shape.” said Rhoda, who discussed the Flyers. “Waynflete is well-coached and just a good program. But in the playoffs, anything can happen, and we will come up with a strategy and game-plan.” 

Lisbon outshot Dirigo, 39-2, with Ducharme turning away 28 shots. Greyhound goaltender Sean Moore had two saves for the shutout.  

Comments are not available on this story.