HAMPDEN, Maine — Sam Huston, the lone returning starter among the defensive backs on the Bangor High School boys soccer team, had some words of advice for his more offensive-minded teammates just before the second half of the Rams’ battle with Hampden Academy on Thursday night.
“[Hampden Academy] had some good scoring chances at the end of the first half,” he said. “We had to slow that down, so when we huddled in the middle of the field before the second half I said, ‘Let’s get one quick and knock them down for the rest of the game.’”
Twenty-one seconds later, Eli Clein obliged, scoring what turned out to be the winning goal in Bangor’s 2-1 victory over the Broncos at the Weatherbee Complex.
Defending Eastern Maine Class A champion Hampden Academy had possession at the outset of the period, but some aggressive play by Bangor forced a turnover that Clein turned into a high shot inside the far post from just inside the 18-yard line.
“Right off the start we were going to pressure them as hard as we could and put them under the gun,” said Clein. “Nate Bach pressured really well and allowed the ball to slip through to a spot where I could get onto it and strike it in.”
The goal gave Bangor a 2-0 lead and blunted the momentum Hampden Academy gained late in the opening period.
“You know that when you’re in a game with Hampden, one goal may not cut it because we’re both very strong attacking,” said Billy Shannon, a Hampden Academy graduate in his first year as Bangor’s head coach after the death in July of former coach Dave Patterson.
“So in order for us to feel comfortable, we had to get that second goal, and it was great to go out and get one right after talking at halftime about how we wanted to press high up the field and force their backs to make a mistake.”
Hampden Academy (1-1) finally got on the board with 4:24 left in the match on a long header by Nick Gilpin off a feed from Will Huston but was unable to follow up with the equalizer.
“We came out slow against Brunswick [a 2-0 season-opening win] and thought we had that figured out, but we came out slow again today at the start of both halves, and it really cost us in the second half,” said Hampden coach Josh Stevens.
“Last year, we had people finishing. This year, we’re not getting looks yet,” he added.
Credit some of that to a Bangor defense anchored by Huston and Stanley Clarke, a returning starter in goal, who kept Hampden offensive standouts Tristan Gardner and Dan Good largely in check.
Hampden outshot Bangor 16-10 but mounted few threatening bids against Clarke, who made seven saves.
“Coach pretty much said the outcome of the game was going to be determined by the play of the back four, and I thought we played very well,” said Huston. “We’ve worked all week in practice for this game. We knew what we had to do, and we came out and executed.”
Bangor (2-0) took a 1-0 lead on its second shot of the match as junior forward Javon Myers gained possession on the left wing about 30 yards out, spun and lofted a shot over Hampden goalie Kyle Townsend (three saves) and into the far corner of the net.
