The long wait is over … but Morse High School’s first boys soccer victory of the season didn’t come easy.
The Shipbuilders got a firsthalf goal by Nick Theriault midway through the first half and the defense made it stand up en route to a 1-0 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B verdict over a highly competitive Gardiner group on Saturday at McMann Field.
A nice run down the left sideline by Tristan Kiffer, who was called to duty from the jayvee squad, got the winning play going.
Kiffer crossed over to a waiting Theriault who onetimed the ball into the far corner at 21:13 of the first half for the game’s lone goal.
“I got a great pass from Tristan and the goal was open so I took a shot,” said Theriault. “There’s been a lot of improvement for us. At first we weren’t doing so well, but we’re now starting to play better.”
Morse led in shots 7-2 over the first 40 minutes and finished with a 10-4 advantage, but the Tigers had territorial control down the stretch.
Morse’s offense, led by Garrett Robson, Michael Alvarez, PC Ostergaard, Alex Beveridge and Jacob Freeman, were able to break free on occasion, but the big clearing boots of Gardiner’s Ben Dickey prevented any more scoring chances.
“Definitely, it has been too long for this (a win),” said Morse coach Andy Knox. “But, it feels all right. We still got to improve … there were a lot of things we did well today, but there are still things we can improve on and we’re going to see these guys again in three weeks up there.”
Five minutes into the second half, Morse goalie Duane Tardif made a nice in-traffic save and he came away with a nifty stop a minute later with DelGallo buzzing around the box.
On the other side, Gardiner goaltender Ian Lane stopped a Theriault free kick from 25 yards out.
Gardiner actually had two apparent goals called back. One came on a long DelGallo throw-in, which was never touched before entering the goal, while another came on a Roberts corner kick, which was negated because of an obstruction infraction on the Tigers.
A nice Josh Cardwell-to- Alex LaPointe feed in close was handled by Tardif to his right as the Tigers increased their pressure tactics down the stretch.
“Its a good stress in my book, we definitely had opportunities to put it away early in the second half,” added Knox. “That would’ve relieved some of the stress, but our boys did well. They kept their composure and battled hard,” he added while pointing out the stellar defensive play of Tardif and back Aaron LaPointe.
Morse 1,
Gardiner 0
McMann Field in Bath
Gardiner00—0
Morse 10—1
Goals — (M) Nick Theriault.
Assists — (M) Tristan Kiffer.
Shots — Morse 10, Gardiner 4.
Corner kicks — Gardiner 4-2.
Saves — (G) Ian Lane 7; (M) Duane
Tardif 4.
Records — Morse 1-7; Gardiner 1-7-1.
Up next for Morse — Hosting Belfast
on Tuesday (4 p.m.).
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