SOUTH CHINA — A 1-1 tie in Rockport earlier in the season raised the stakes for Tuesday’s rematch between Camden Hills and Erskine Academy on the Eagles’ home field.
“We knew our season was dependent on a few games, and this was one of them,” Camden Hills sophomore midfielder Josiah Krul said. “We knew we had to win or else it’s going to be a tough playoff season. We’d be lower (in the Heal Points) and have to play a prelim and play a lot of away games, so we knew we had to win.”
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The Windjammers scored late in the first half then used the wind to their advantage in the second half to blank the Eagles, 1-0. They not only handed Erskine its first loss of the season but remain unbeaten themselves and move ahead of the Eagles in the Eastern B Heal Points standings.
“That team’s been in the state finals three years in a row for a reason,” Erskine coach Phil Hubbard said. “They play some good soccer. We had some opportunities but just couldn’t finish them.”
Most of those opportunities came with the wind at the Eagles’ back in the first half, which made sophomore forward Kieran Lydon’s goal with 2:45 left before intermission sting that much more.
Lydon took a pass from Josiah Simko on the right wing, turned into the box inside the 18, faked out a defender and looked off Denver Cullivan to the Erskine keeper’s left before beating him low to his right.
“It was a really nice pass from Josiah Simko,” Lydon said. “I took it in and cut in. I looked right and then cut in with my right foot for the shot.”
Erskine (8-1-1) used long passes, throw-ins on net and good defensive pressure in Camden’s end to own a 7-5 advantage in shots in the first half. Freshman goalie Lucas Boetsch (nine saves), making his first start in net, was equal to the task, particularly when he knocked down a laser by Ryan Rodrigue in the 22nd minute.
“The first half they were very offensive,” Krul said. “They had a lot of over the top balls just running at us. It was a struggle to stop them. They had the wind but we had the energy and we finished that. It was a little easier in the second half because they couldn’t play their game over the top.”
“The first 20, maybe, 25 minutes of the first half, we had some good opportunities, I thought, and we were actually on them,” Hubbard said. “Then maybe the last 15 minutes of the first half they started doing some isolation, some one-on-one, and that started to create some fits for us. In the second half, you could see the difference with the wind and having a hard time getting the ball out.”
Camden Hills (7-0-2) dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half and tested Cullivan (four saves) high. Krul’s direct kick from 30 yards hit off the crossbar in the 14th minute. He and Morgan Mercier had other bids sail just over the net.
At the other end, the Windjammers kept a close eye on sophomore Sam Wilkinson.
“We wanted to limit the over-the-top balls and make sure Sam Wilkinson didn’t get into too much space. He’s a really nice player,” Camden Hills coach Ryan Hurley said. “He did get free a few times more than I would have liked, but when we made mistakes, Lucas was there to clean it up. I thought we stayed organized in the back for the most part.”
The Eagles cranked up the tempo in the final 10 minutes and created some chances off of turnovers. Zach Isbell picked a Windjammer’s pocket at the 18 late and had nothing between him and Boetsch, but his bid went wide left. Phoenix Throckmorton had a shot with four seconds left barely cleared the crossbar.
While it was a tough loss to take, Hubbard is confident the Eagles will rebound for the final four games of the season.
“We’ve got four seniors and 11 juniors. A lot of these kids have been varsity for a couple of years. They understand where we’re at. We’ve got a lot of games left with point-worthy teams, so they know how to regroup,” said Hubbard, whose team has Oceanside, Medomak Valley and Belfast remaining on the schedule.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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