FREEPORT—While Freeport’s boys’ soccer team is still searching for consistency, in spurts, the Falcons are simply deadly and can turn a game around on a dime.
Tuesday afternoon at the Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field, Freeport fell behind visiting Greely late in the first half when the Rangers, playing without injured senior captains and standouts Tommy Bennert and Ethan Njitoh, got a breakaway goal from sophomore Owen Piesik.
Greely couldn’t add to its lead, however, and with 22:59 to play, the Falcons drew even on a pretty goal from sophomore Cam Tourigny.
Before that goal could even be announced, junior Garrett Richeson added another 47 seconds later and in the blink of an eye, Freeport had the lead.
The Falcons’ defense and senior goalkeeper Adam Clough did the rest and Freeport held on for a critical 2-1 late-season triumph.
The Falcons are now 5-3-4 on the year and in the process, dropped the Rangers to 6-5-1.
“That’s been our mantra this year, we’ve been a streaky team and can get a roll for 10 minutes at a time, but we have to find a way to be more consistent for 80 minutes,” said Freeport coach Bob Strong.
Back and forth
Both teams have been competitive all season, but haven’t gotten the results they would have liked.
Freeport started with a 1-1 home tie against York, then let a late lead slip away in a 2-1 home loss to Yarmouth. After playing host Greely to a 3-3 tie, the Falcons got in the win column against visiting Lake Region (4-1), then fell at home to Cape Elizabeth (3-0). After a 3-0 win at Fryeburg Academy, Freeport tied host Gray-New Gloucester (3-3), then lost at three-time reigning Class C champion Waynflete (4-1). The Falcons bounced back with wins at York (1-0) and Wells (6-0), then again let another late lead slip away at Yarmouth Saturday before settling for a 1-1 draw.
Greely struggled out of the gate, blanking visiting Poland in the opener (9-0), then falling at Cape Elizabeth (4-0), tying visiting Freeport (3-3) and losing at home to Yarmouth (2-1). The Rangers then blanked host Lake Region (4-0), visiting Gray-New Gloucester (2-0) and host Sacopee Valley (7-0) before falling at Waynflete (3-0). Greely bounced back to down host York (4-2) and visiting Fryeburg Academy (4-1) before losing in the final minute to visiting Cape Elizabeth Saturday (2-1).
In the teams’ first meeting Sept. 10, Njitoh had two goals and Bennert one for the Rangers, while the Falcons got goals from junior Israel Bossay, senior Kaiden Jacobs and junior Owen Ruseicki.
Last year, each team won at home (Freeport, 2-1, and Greely, 2-0), then the Falcons upset the Rangers in the Class B South quarterfinals, winning 2-1, in a game played on the turf at Falmouth High School.
Tuesday, on a sunny and pleasant 57-degree afternoon, Greely appeared primed for a much-needed win until Freeport took it away.
Freeport senior Bobby Strong keeps the ball away from Greely sophomore Bezabeh Mendelsohn during the Falcons’ 2-1 victory Tuesday. Hoffer photo.
The Falcons had the first chance, in the fifth minute, when senior standout Alex Graver got the ball to senior Ben Grimm, but Grimm sent his shot high.
In the eighth minute, Grimm sent a free kick to Richeson, whose header was saved by Rangers’ freshman goalkeeper Landon Dominski.
After Dominski denied a shot on a rush from Bossay, Greely tilted the field and got looks from Piesik (who headed a cross from sophomore Bezabeh Mendelsohn wide), Mendelsohn (who took a pass from senior Sean-Marley Rwabira, then was denied in front by Clough), Mendelsohn again (who again had a shot saved by Clough) and Piesik, who had a shot blocked and while senior Tate Nadeau managed to put a rebound on frame, Clough made that save too.
After Dominski made saves on Bossay and Grimm and a long bid from Ruseicki rang off the crossbar, the Rangers countered, as Rwabira passed ahead to a streaking Piesik, who got behind the defense, went one-on-one with Clough and buried his shot for a 1-0 lead with 9:56 left in the first half.
Greely nearly doubled its lead four minutes later, when a free kick from sophomore Owen Partridge deflected to Nadeau, but his shot was just high.
Freeport had a 6-5 edge in shots on frame in the first half, but Dominski’s six saves helped the Rangers hold the lead at the break.
But they couldn’t keep it in the second half.
Early on, Partridge broke up a rush by junior Emmanuel Ekogha Omeme and Richeson had a great look in the box on a feed from Ruseicki, but he sent the ball just over the crossbar.
After Graver had a couple shots blocked, the Falcons broke through to level the contest.
After Bossay did a nice job winning the ball in the corner, he sent it up top to Tourigny and Tourigny wouldn’t be denied, shooting a one-timer past Dominski to make it 1-1 with 22:59 on the clock.
“That goal was amazing,” Richeson said. “You love to see a guy like that score the goal. It was a frustrating first half. We talked about it at halftime and we came out strong as a team in the second half and we dominated.”
“Other guys are stepping up for us,” said Strong. “Cam’s goal was instrumental to our victory.”
And 47 seconds later, Freeport had the lead, as Graver found Richeson and this time, Richeson’s aim would be true, as he beat Dominski with his left foot with 22:12 showing.
“Alex played a beautiful ball through and I just finished it,” Richeson said.
On the play, Greely senior captain Nick Theodores was injured and the Rangers weren’t able to recover.
“I think that when Nick went down, a lot of kids hesitated and thought the ball would get hit out of bounds, but it doesn’t work that way, it went in the net instead,” longtime Greely coach Mike Andreasen said.
While the Falcons had turned the game around, they were far from home free and the Rangers would have some great chances to answer down the stretch.
First, with 16:27 remaining, Nadeau got the ball in the box, spun and shot, but missed wide.
With 8:59 left, Nadeau had a shot blocked and the ball ricocheted to Rwabira, who had a great look, but he too missed wide.
After Clough broke up a cross from junior Samuel Kim to Rwabira and junior Keegan Hale missed just wide, Nadeau one-timed a promising shot with 6:29 to go, but Clough dove, extended his arm and managed to tip the ball off the far post.
“I got a finger on that and I don’t even know how,” Clough said. “I’m a lacrosse goalie primarily and the team has trusted me to step in. I practiced for a week and it’s worked out pretty well.”
Clough has certainly risen to the occasion.
“I have full confidence in my keeper,” said Richeson.
“Adam’s surprised all of us,” Strong said. “We knew we had a great head on his shoulders, but he’s taken it to a new level and he’s done extremely well.”
With 3:06 remaining, Piesik appeared on the brink of scoring the tying goal, but he was brought down by Richeson in the box and no call was made.
“It was all ball,” Richeson said. “It was a little scary. If I knew I was in the box I wouldn’t have slid. Tough call, but it was right.”
Greely was apoplectic, to no avail.
“I’m not going to put my stock in a penalty kick because if you make it into one call, you’re rolling the dice,” said longtime Rangers coach Mike Andreasen. “We have to make plays, simple as that.”
After Clough corralled one final cross from Mendelsohn, the horn sounded and the Falcons were able to celebrate their 2-1 victory.
“It’s a huge win for us,” said Clough. “We needed this one badly. Later in games we struggle a bit, but we hung tough at the end today.”
“Greely, missing two of their top guys, I thought they played us really well,” said Strong. “Teams grow from games like this and I still feel like they’re a team to beat.”
Freeport had an 8-7 edge in shots on frame and got six saves from Clough. The Falcons took four corner kicks to the Rangers’ one.
Greely got six saves from Dominski, but still fell short.
“Landon is really coming into his own,” said Andreasen. “He’s playing well. If we lose, it’s not going to be because of goalkeeping.
“In game 12, you want more than good things, you want good results. It’s frustrating because we haven’t put it all together yet against a good team. I would have liked to see us put more shots on goal. I did like that we played urgently and in some of the other games, we didn’t play that way.”
One week to go
Greely has a chance to earn some major Heal Points when it plays at Yarmouth Saturday afternoon. The Rangers, who are currently ninth in Class B South (where 12 teams qualify for the postseason), finish at home versus York Tuesday of next week.
“We have to focus on getting healthy and playing with confidence,” said Andreasen. “We may have to go on the road for a prelim. I think we’re good enough to beat anybody, but I don’t think we’re good enough to beat everybody. We’re just not that consistent.”
Freeport (currently sixth in Class B South) has its home finale Thursday against Poland, then finishes the regular season at top-ranked Cape Elizabeth Tuesday of next week.
“I think it’s anyone’s tournament,” Clough said. “If we go in confident, we’ll be fine.”
“We have to be aggressive and we have to want it,” said Richeson. “When we get hot, no one can stop us. Playing that way for 80 minutes has been our problem.”
“We’re playing our best soccer right now and we’re near healthy,” added Strong. “We should hopefully be ready to challenge. I think it’s anyone region. Cape Elizabeth has proved they’re the team to beat, but on any given day, anyone could challenge them. We look forward to playing down there next week.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.
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