BANGOR, Maine — The John Bapst boys soccer team started fast Thursday afternoon.
But the Mount Desert Island Trojans had the stronger finish, getting a second half goal from junior Ben Steel to edge the Crusaders 1-0 at Saxl Park.
“Usually it takes us to be a goal down to really get going in the second half,” said Steel. “This game we just decided mentally that we were going to play tougher, and we did.”
The win was the second straight for coach John Rosenfeld’s club, now 3-2 on the season. John Bapst dips to 1-3.
“This was a good game for us,” said MDI senior midfielder Carl Ferm. “We came out strong and then in the second half we came out stronger, because we figured if we got a goal it would boost our momentum,” said Ferm. “But they’re a good team, certainly better than their record.”
MDI finished with an 18-16 edge in shots, with Trojans’ goalie Iz Ward making 11 saves to earn the shutout while Stuart Lenz stopped 14 shots for John Bapst.
Steel’s game-winner came with 19:51 left in the match as he beat a charging Lenz to a long lead pass from Dennis O’Neil near the 18-yard line and directed the ball to the left of the John Bapst goalie and into the net.
“I just saw Ben sprinting toward the goal and the goalie coming out,” said O’Neill, “so I kicked it to him and he just tipped it right past him. It was a nice goal.”
The play was similar to several other scoring bids MDI created on counterattacks after John Bapst offensive forays.
“We try and play it to the corner flags because we have good strikers with Ben and Dennis,” said Ferm, “Typically we like to play it on the ground a lot because we have a lot of good ballhandlers and good speed, but sometimes we get caught kicking it in the air.”
MDI did gain momentum from its goal, but John Bapst was not without late opportunities, particularly a shot from the right side of the 18-yard line by Lucas Hubbard that hit the top of the crossbar near the far post with three minutes left.
John Bapst outshot MDI 6-3 in the first half, but couldn’t convert — in part because coach Andy Frace’s club was without leading scorer Gracen Malave, injured in a car accident earlier this week.
“We came out in the first half and were really strong, we spotted the ball well into the corners and we were getting crosses, but they had a tough keeper and played a tough game,” said John Bapst captain Jason McBurnie.
“We played one of our best games, too, but we just couldn’t capitalize.”
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