MONMOUTH — Monmouth Academy boys soccer coach Joe Fletcher made a wise choice Saturday morning when he elected to defend the east end of the field during the first half of his team’s Western Maine Class C prelim against Lisbon.
Monmouth officials did a great job preparing the field after three days of steady rain this week, but there was no doubt footing was must more treacherous on the west end of the field.
The Mustangs took full advantage, getting second-half goals from freshman Avery Pomerleau and sophomore Hunter Richardson en route to a 2-0 win.
Sixth-seeded Monmouth (11-4-0) will next play No. 3 Hall-Dale (13-1-0) in a quarterfinal game Tuesday.
No. 11 Lisbon finished at 7-7-1.
The visiting Greyhounds carried most of the play in the first half but couldn’t put a shot past senior goalkeeper Kasey Smith (nine saves).
“It messed with our control,” Richardson said of the first-half conditions. “We had people slipping and sliding everywhere.”
Smith twice robbed Lisbon junior and leading scorer Austin Fournier in the first half and opened the second half with a dive to his right to just deflect Fournier’s hard shot along the end line.
“That was a real big save.” Fletcher said. “That kid had the lower corner.”
Both teams finished with seven shots on goal in the first half, but the Greyhounds controlled possession of the ball. It changed even more dramatically in the second half when the Mustangs outshot them 9-3.
“Both teams had to deal with it,” Fletcher said. “But they had to deal with it when it got a little worse than we had it in the first half.”
The Mustangs finally broke through at the 19 minute mark of the first half on a hustling play from Pomerleau, who beat a defender to the ball just before it reached the end line.
“We talk and talk and talk about giving everything you can,” Fletcher said. “He went hard on that particular play.”
Pomerleau turned on a first tough-angle shot that hit a defender and skipped past Lisbon keeper Nate Bergeron (12 saves). It was the freshman’s 10th goal of the season.
The Mustangs poured it on after that and picked up some insurance on a fine individual effort from Richardson with just over 12 minutes left to play. The sophomore midfielder took a long over-the-top pass from Travis Hartford and sprinted to the ball as Bergeron came out from his net.
“We had the one-goal lead which opened up the game,” Richardson said. “I knew I had to score to shut them down. It was a footrace and I knew I could beat him.”
Richardson did win the race to the ball but Bergeron managed to made the save. The rebound, though, bounced to Richardson who kicked it into an open net.
“I wasn’t pleased with the outcome but I liked our effort,” said Lisbon coach Dan Slyvester, who graduates just one player.
The Mustangs face a Hall-Dale team that beat them 1-0 in double overtime earlier in the year.
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