Greely boys finally end Yarmouth hex

CUMBERLAND—Coming into the 2023 boys’ soccer season, the defending Class B champion Yarmouth Clippers were getting all of the accolades.

And the Greely Rangers noticed.

So Friday afternoon at Glenn A. Hutchins Field, the Rangers went out and stated their case.

And earned a historic, statement-making victory as a result.

Greely got a goal in each half from junior Bez Mendolsohn and shut down the high-powered Clippers’ attack en route to a seismic 2-0 victory and a dream-like start to the season.

The Rangers beat Yarmouth for the first time in nine years and beat the Clippers in Cumberland for the first time in 16 seasons.

“It feels good,” said longtime Greely coach Mike Andreasen. “It was like the Bambino Curse. I’d see people at Hannaford and they’d reference it. I knew we were better than last year because we played more together. To win this is really nice.”

Yarmouth’s playground

Class B has been dominated by Yarmouth for nearly a decade. Since Greely won its last state title, in 2013, the Clippers have captured seven of the eight Gold Balls contested (there was no postseason in 2020 due to the pandemic), including last year, when Yarmouth completed a late-season surge with a 3-2 victory over John Bapst to finish 14-2-2.

This year’s team has the pieces in place to be just as good, if not better, much to the chagrin of the rest of the league.

Greely, meanwhile, went 8-7-1 in 2022, losing, 4-1, to Cape Elizabeth in the Class B South quarterfinal round.

The Rangers came in expecting to be more of a threat this season.

A year ago, the Clippers twice beat Greely, 2-1 in Cumberland and 3-0 in Yarmouth to improve to 19-0-2 in the rivals’ last 21 encounters, dating to 2014 (see sidebar, below, for recent results).

Friday, the Clippers hoped to keep the train rolling, but instead, the Rangers solved Yarmouth for the first time since Sept. 9, 2014 (1-0 at Yarmouth) and for the first time at home since way back on Oct. 10, 2007 (1-0).

Prior to kickoff, Hutchins, for whom the Greely field is named, was given a moment of silence after his passing earlier this summer.

The Rangers then went out and did him proud.

Yarmouth senior Max Gilbert and Greely senior Sean Allen battle for a loose ball during the Rangers’ 2-0 victory in Friday’s season opener. Hoffer photos.

It took a mere 48 seconds for the Clippers to get the game’s first look, but senior captain Jonny Fulton shot wide.

Missed shots would prove to be a problem for Yarmouth for a full 80 minutes.

Later in the first half, Greely sophomore goalkeeper Landon Dominski saved a header from sophomore Max Gilbert, which was set up by senior Mihailo Medenica.

The Rangers then started to pressure, but a rush by Mendelsohn was broken up by Clippers senior back Sam Lowenstein, senior Aaron Park shot high, then Yarmouth senior goalkeeper Ian O’Connor made a sprawling save on a shot from Park.

Greely’s defense came up big too, as senior captain Keegan Hale broke up feed from junior Luis Cardoso in the box, senior captain Eric Asherman cleared a cross from Clippers senior Justin Dawes and senior captain Sean Allen blocked junior Owen Hayes’ point blank shot.

With 16:47 to go in the half, the Rangers broke through, as sophomore Cade Potts, on the right side, played the ball into the middle. Junior Owen Piesik let it go through and it found Mendelsohn, who ripped a low shot past a diving O’Connor and into the net to give Greely the lead for good.

“We knew it was good to get the lead,” Mendelsohn said. “It was great dummy by Owen. It was so unselfish. I didn’t take a good look at the keeper. I just tried to go low.”

“Bez had great composure,” Andreasen said. “He doesn’t get a lot of shots, but he puts them on frame and that was the difference.”

Late in the half, Fulton headed a corner kick high, Dominski fell on a loose ball after sophomore Marcelino Mulumbo fed Dawes in the box and sophomore Gideon Ahrens missed wide.

Yarmouth sophomore Marcelino Mulumbo runs down a loose ball as Greely junior Owen Partridge (8) and senior Eric Asherman defend.

As expected, Yarmouth came out strong in the second half, but Greely didn’t buckle and instead, got some breathing room.

After Fulton had a shot blocked off a corner kick, Dawes sent the rebound high.

Gilbert, Ahrens and senior Adam McLaughlin then missed high as well.

With 30:26 remaining in regulation, the Rangers countered, as Mendelsohn wouldn’t be denied, winning a long ball, fighting through the Clippers’ vaunted defense, then beating O’Connor with a left-footed shot for a 2-0 advantage.

“It was good to have the lead, but in the second half, we wanted to get another goal,” said Mendelsohn. “I just tried to take control and finish.”

“Bez is amazing with the ball,” Hale said. “He has great composure and great speed.”

“We absorbed (Yarmouth’s) punch,” Andreasen added. “That second goal was a killer because they were all over us. Bez beat two or three defenders.”

The Clippers have been no strangers to coming from behind in recent years and would have their chances to answer, but couldn’t convert.

After a McLaughlin free kick skittered through the box untouched, Mulumbo had a great bid on a low shot, but Dominski made a diving save, his finest of the game.

“Landon is so much better than he was last year,” Andreasen said.

Down the stretch, a Dawes rush was broken up by Partridge, McLaughlin missed high, Dominski beat Dawes to a feed from sophomore George Brown and senior Matt Gautreau shot high.

At 5:40 p.m., the horn sounded and at last, for the first time since George W. Bush was in the White House, Greely could celebrate a home victory over Yarmouth, 2-0.

Greely races to congratulate sophomore goalkeeper Landon Dominski at the final horn.

“We work hard in practice and it paid off today,” said Mendelsohn. “We definitely knew it would be a tough game. Yarmouth’s a great team. We came in with one goal, to win.”

“It’s great,” said Hale. “It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten them at home. We lost a lot of talent from last year, but we’ve come in as a team. We have good chemistry. We knew we had a good chance.”

“I usually tell my kids when we’re 0-2 against them, ‘We only have to beat Yarmouth once this year’ and now we’ll have to do it twice,” Andreasen added. “I still think Yarmouth’s the team to beat. Beating them again will be hard.”

Each team put five shots on frame.

Dominski, with a lot of help from his defenders, made five saves.

“I give so much credit to our back line,” Hale said. “They made big plays and did their jobs and didn’t make mistakes.”

“My back four are really good,” said Andreasen. “My two central-backs, Owen Partridge and Mason Rodgers, are juniors and they’re really solid.”

Shocked

The Clippers launched over 20 shots, but only a quarter of them were on frame. Yarmouth had a 5-1 edge in corner kicks. O’Connor made three saves.

“We outshot them, but we didn’t execute like we should,” said longtime Clippers coach Mike Hagerty, after his team’s first loss in an opener since 2011. “We know that teams will look to counter on us and we made two mistakes and they scored two goals. Their goalie has improved a ton. He’s grown up, he’s stronger, he’s smarter, he covers angles well. You can’t beat him from far away. Their backs did a good job retreating enough, but not too much, inviting shots from 30-yards out and we took them.

“It’s been awhile. Greely deserves credit. The stats don’t matter. It’s the score. I’d rather learn that lesson now. If things go as we’d like, I think this will be our last game on grass. We’re much better on turf. It’s not like we played badly today. We started great the first 10 minutes, then we slowed down and they hit long balls and got dangerous. They got a goal because we didn’t play fast enough. We played OK in the second half. We just have to get closer to the goal.”

Long way to go

Yarmouth plays in front of the home fans for the first time Wednesday, when Gray-New Gloucester pays a visit. The Clippers hope to bounce right back.

“We’ll learn from this,” said Hagerty. “No one is panicking or getting mad. I’m still really positive. Now, we have to hold serve when (the Rangers) come to us, so we don’t have to come here for a playoff game. We have to execute better.”

Greely looks to keep the good times rolling Tuesday when it visits Fryeburg Academy. The Rangers have another big test at Cape Elizabeth Thursday.

“This is awesome for confidence,” Hale said. “It’s a good starting point for the season. At the end of the day, it’s just one game. We have to keep training hard and keep great attitudes. We need to keep working hard and keep our effort up. We won’t settle for this.”

“We have big games to come,” Mendelsohn said. “They’ll come back tough the next time we play.”

“All we’re looking for now is to play good soccer and give everyone our best shot,” Andreasen added.