GARDINER — After a blistering start to the season, the Gardiner boys soccer team had lost its winning edge in early October.
Well, just when they needed it most, the Tigers rediscovered that edge — and they did so in a manner that couldn’t have been much sweeter.
Gardiner dominated rival Cony 9-1 in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rivalry showdown Thursday at Hoch Field. The Tigers amassed 19 shots on goal to the Rams’ three to snap a four-game winless streak that had followed seven victories in the team’s first eight games.
“We had been kind of slipping in the mud and sinking in quicksand, and it felt like we couldn’t find our way,” Gardiner head coach Nick Wallace said. “We kind of lost it, but tonight, the energy we had and the fight we had was reminiscent of what we had at the beginning of the season.”
Gardiner (8-4-1) wasted no time taking the lead on Casey Paul’s goal shortly after kickoff. The senior started what would be a deluge of goals for the home team just three minutes in as he sent a floating header past Cony goalkeeper Davis Kibler for the opening tally.
The Tigers made it 2-0 seven minutes after Johnson’s opening score with another header, this one from Kian Alves. Just three minutes later, Aiden Paradis put the home team up 3-0 with a thunderous shot off the inside post.
“Really, it was just one of those plays where I just kind of shot it,” said Paradis, one of 10 Gardiner players recognized for senior night. “I was just hoping for the best, and it went in. … When you’re playing like we were, it just kind of increases your confidence. It was a great feeling.”
Gardiner’s final goal of the first half came with 15 minutes to play as Trenton Sirois beat Kibler to a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and lofted it into an empty net. The Tigers then got goals from Josh Jacobson, Raku Shimoda, Paradis, Paul and Sirois in the second half as Yousif Ibrahim bagged a consolation prize for Cony (6-5-2).
One of the Tigers’ goals, Shimoda’s strike with 37 minutes to go that made it 6-0, was met with a rapturous celebration from the Gardiner bench. It was the first goal as a Tiger for Shimoda, an exchange student from Japan who has ingratiated himself with teammates and fans.
“He hadn’t scored yet and hadn’t played a lot of minutes, but his teammates love him, and he’s kind of become a fan favorite for us,” Wallace said. “He’s a great kid, and having him on our team is a wonderful experience, so when he scored, everybody went crazy.”
Cony keeper Davis Kibler blocks a shot by Gardiner’s Kian Alves during a soccer match Thursday October 13, 2022 on Hoch Field in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Following the 7-1 start, Gardiner was 0-3-1 in its last four games entering Thursday with losses to Maranacook, Medomak Valley and Oceanside and a draw against Erskine Academy. It was a slump that had been eating away at the Tigers, who had defeated all four of those teams earlier in the season.
“We couldn’t really put a finger on any one thing in particular; we just weren’t playing good,” Paul said. “We had some (injuries and illnesses), but that wasn’t an excuse. We wanted to come out here for senior night and one of our last games before playoffs and turn it around.”
They did it through goals worthy of a highlight reel. Paradis’ goal to make it 3-0 was placed inch-perfect, giving the defense and keeper no chance from the buildup to the strike itself; Jacobson’s goal to open the scoring in the second half was every bit as powerful.
“That one was from 25 yards out, and it was a screamer,” Wallace said of Jacobson’s goal, his first as a varsity player. “With Aiden, he doesn’t always score, but when he does, he hits bangers. It was a team effort, and we were just on target tonight.”
Despite what the final score might indicate, the Cony team Gardiner soundly beat Thursday has been no slouch this season. The Rams, placed sixth in Class B North, have been relatively solid defensively this year, conceding an average of just 1.3 goals per game.
On this night, though, Cony ran into a Gardiner team desperate to get back on track after its recent struggles. A senior night game against their biggest rivals presented the perfect chance for the Tigers to do just that, and the team made sure that opportunity didn’t go to waste.
“We’ve been talking about bringing a bigger energy level, and tonight, we did that,” Paul said. “Everyone was great; we had guys scoring for us who hadn’t scored all year. To bounce back like we did, we really needed that.”
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