March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Soucie’s four goals carry Bangor over Brewer

It took 10 goals, two yellow cards, two indirect goal kicks and lots of mud and fog for the Bangor boys soccer team to beat Brewer 7-3 in its home opener Tuesday night.

Both Brewer coach Adam Leach and Bangor coach Keith Bosley said after the game they were expecting a one- or two-goal game. But at the half, the Rams were up 3-0. They extended their lead to 4-0 just nine minutes into the second when Matt Soucie lifted a 15-foot shot over the head of Witches goalie Tim Miller – Soucie’s third goal of the game. He went on to score another unassisted goal with just under 11 minutes left in the game.

“This was the biggest game for us,” Soucie said. “They only played with two defenders and they gave us a lot of room. And we had some good passes and crosses.”

But it wasn’t only the Witches who gave up space to the Rams. Six of the game’s 10 goals were unassisted and scored off penalty kicks, long shots or breakaways. Brewer had plenty of scoring chances in the first half, like the breakaway shot at 22:24 that forward Jamie Lambert put up just wide of the Bangor goal. Lambert was able to score all three of the Brewer goals later in the game.

“Jamie had more room than I expected,” Leach said of his leading scorer. “They gave him a lot of space. And he’s certainly no secret. Everyone knows about him.”

The first of two yellow cards came at 31:46 in the second half, when Bangor defender Dominic Schneider tripped up Brewer back Adam Soames, who took the penalty kick but shot the ball wide to the right.

The Witches scored on the Rams’ second penalty, at 16:02 in the second. Bangor substitute goalie Corey Bobb was called for a delay of game when he rolled a ball instead of dropping it at the request of the referree.

Bobb defended his move, which he said he did to wait for more defenders to make their way up the field.

“I had to do it. It delayed them from setting something up,” Bobb said. “I just had to do it. That’s what they teach you to do.”

Lambert’s goal made the score 4-2, but the Rams quickly pulled away. After midfielder Griffin McManus scored off an assist from forward David Lisnik to make it 5-2, Soucie scored his fourth goal to bring the score to 6-2. Lambert scored again with 6:21 left to make the game 6-3.

Bangor forward James Russell scored the game’s final goal off an unassisted shot about 30 feet from the goal that keeper Miller misjudged, with 4:06 left in the game.

Bangor’s first goal was scored at 14:42 in the first half by forward Benjamin Carr off an assist from midfielder Andrew Sumner. Soucy scored the second goal with 3:08 left in the half, off a pass from midfielder Jay Jeffrey. Two minutes later, Soucy scored again with the assist by James Gallant.

Goalies Arsenault and Bobb combined for four saves on 10 Brewer shots for the Rams, who are 1-1. For 0-1 Brewer, Miller had seven saves on 18 Bangor shots.

Leach said that he is confident the team will pull together, despite the loss in their first game.

“It’s not a matter of not having enough talent,” he said. “We just need to build confidence. We know what we have to work on.”


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