BANGOR — The disappointment of the 2009 postseason is only fueling the fire of the Calvary Chapel boys soccer team.
The Sabers of Orrington fell in the opening round after earning the top seed in Eastern Maine Class D last fall, and after a similar run to the top of the standings this season, coach Mike Warman’s club wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Calvary Chapel dominated from start to finish Wednesday, with Stephen Berenyi scoring three goals, including two in the first half as the Sabers rolled past ninth-ranked Shead of Eastport 7-0 at the University College of Bangor field.
The 15-0 Sabers will play either Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook or Central Aroostook of Mars Hill in a Friday semifinal while Shead ends its season 5-10-1.
Calvary Chapel asserted itself right from the get-go, using its quickness and skill to overpower the Tigers while controlling possession.
All three of the Sabers’ first-half goals came off set plays, with Jonas Waaben, a foreign exchange student from Denmark, blasting in a direct kick from 40 yards out 13 minutes into the match, while Berenyi headed in a Peter Gorczok corner kick 15 minutes before halftime.
“We’ve been really good on set plays this year which has been a new thing for us. Our corner kicks, our throw-ins, our direct kicks have been extremely powerful,” Warman said.
Berenyi scored his second goal by one-touching a Waaben free kick shortly before halftime, while Berenyi, Colby Downs, Ben Miller and Matt Goodness had second-half tallies with Berenyi, Downs and Derek Russell each picking up an assist.
The tall, dynamic Berenyi scored his 32nd, 33rd and 34th goals of the season, and although the Tigers tried to mark him tightly, Berenyi just kept his focus and played hard.
“I was really concerned about that coming into this game, but you’ve just got to play your game and not get into their game,” he said.
Even though his team was up 3-0 at intermission, Warman wasn’t too happy with the way his club was possessing the ball, but the Sabers did a better job of using their speed to generate rushes in the second half.
“I thought the second half the only real adjustment was to tell the guys that we’re not making runs up through, that we’re getting some control in the midfield, but we’re standing and watching the passes instead of running onto them,” Warman explained.
The Sabers outshot the Tigers 35-4 while Devon Warman, the coach’s son, was relatively untested in stopping all four shots for Calvary Chapel to earn his fourth shutout of the season while Ethan Stevens had 10 saves for Shead.
Even though the Sabers entered the contest fully expecting they were going to win, they were a bit nervous early on, and it showed in their passing, but they eventually settled into a nice groove.
“As we got up a little bit we were able to settle it down and play our game,” Downs said.
The fire in the Sabers’ bellies was present before the match even started.
“They are really hungry, we have not failed to mention last year’s first round playoff loss all season and we wont forget it,” coach Warman said.