Bangor and Brewer boys’ soccer groups draw after hard-fought battle
The Rams and the Witches performed an entertaining 1-1 draw underneath the lights, and mist, at Cameron Stadium on Tuesday.
Hamstrung by the moist climate, or maybe needing the primary half to get right into a groove, neither facet was in a position to convert till Brewer opened the scoring 17 minutes into the second body.
Discovering themselves in a 2-on-2 state of affairs in transition, Witches duo Nick Godfrey and Braden Carr have been in a position to orchestrate a pleasant mixture within the 18-yard field, with Godfrey feeding Carr for the primary aim of the sport.
“The ball got here in sizzling; the grass is soaked,” senior ahead Carr stated. “It went by means of the defender’s legs, I noticed the place the keeper was, and I put it [near] submit.”
Nevertheless it didn’t take lengthy for Bangor sophomore winger Jasper Sparks to tie it.
5 minutes after the Witches’ aim, the speedy Sparks discovered himself with the ball and dribbled rapidly down the sideline, squeaking by the Witches’ last defender as he turned the nook.
Sparks proceeded to poke it previous senior Brewer goalie Grady Vanedistine, because it slowly rolled into the far submit and bounced in, and all Brewer might do was watch.
“After I first shot it, I assumed it wasn’t going to the online,” Sparks stated. “After which I noticed it hit the internal submit, and that’s when [the emotions] got here to me.”
“It felt actually good,” Bangor senior Cooper Thibodeau stated. “Simply to see one go in boosted our confidence once more. After they scored, it shifted the entire temper.”
Revitalized, Bangor’s assault was in a position to get Vanedistine’s blood pumping a couple of extra occasions however didn’t create something Brewer couldn’t deal with. With roughly 4 minutes to go in regulation, Bangor junior Zach Shaw virtually scored a breakaway aim off a Ram aim kick, however the Witches managed to kick it away earlier than Shaw totally gained management.
On the following nook kick, Bangor didn’t put away a unfastened ball on the prime of the 18-yard field, and the rating remained locked at 1-1 headed into additional time.
Much like the second half, additional time was very back-and-forth, with each groups enjoying bodily and considerably frantically. Brewer sophomore Devin Gideon got here the closest out of anybody to successful the sport, within the second body of additional time.
Gideon obtained a cross within the field and, underneath stress, booted the ball towards the higher 90. With senior Bangor goalkeeper Graeme O’Neal out of attain, Gideon’s shot seemed to be golden, earlier than it looped proper of the submit and out of play. The gang gasped, after which exhaled.
After the sport, each side expressed their anticipation for his or her second assembly of the season on Tuesday, Oct. seventeenth.
“It’s thrilling to play right here, to play in opposition to Bangor,” Brewer head coach Ben Poland stated. “We have been coping with some diseases, and I assumed some guys stepped up and performed some large minutes.”
“I really feel slightly pissed off,” Bangor sophomore defender Lucas Smith stated. “We play them one other time this season, so we now have an opportunity to get again at them.”
Final yr, Brewer beat Bangor 2-1, earlier than they drew 0-0 the week after.
“These video games are those we’re most excited for,” Thibodeau stated. “One in every of our targets this yr was to beat them, so tying them wasn’t sufficient for us. We had quite a lot of alternatives all through the sport.”
Bangor and Brewer now each stand at 1-2-1 on the season. Their rematch on Oct. 17 will happen at Doyle Area in Brewer.
