BANGOR, Maine — Two goals 26 seconds apart early in the first half Tuesday evening seemingly provided sufficient momentum to carry Hampden Academy to a 5-2 boys soccer victory over rival Bangor in their mutual regular-season finale.
But the truth is the Broncos were jacked up even before stepping onto the field against their rivals, thanks to their comeback from a two-goal deficit with nine minutes left to stun Mount Ararat of Topsham 3-2 last Friday.
“I really think that gave us a lot of confidence going into this game, and it showed us what we need not to do tonight,” said Hampden senior striker Tristan Gardner, who erupted for four goals against Bangor. “In the Mount Ararat game we didn’t start to turn it up until the 70th minute, and we knew in this game we needed to turn it up in the first minute.”
Gardner scored twice in each half as Hampden avenged a 2-1 loss to Bangor on Sept. 11, with his two early goals staking the Broncos to a 2-0 halftime lead.
After Bangor freshman Garth Berenyi scored off a Nate Bach assist 2:01 into the second half to rally the Rams within 2-1, Hampden struck for three insurance goals late in the match, the first by Culley Wilson followed by two more from Gardner as the defending Eastern Maine Class A champion Broncos extended their regular-season road winning streak to 16 matches.
“Every time he gets near the goal there’s a chance it’s going in,” said Hampden coach Josh Stevens of Gardner.
Kyle Townsend made seven saves on 16 shots in goal to preserve the victory, while Bangor goalie Stanley Clark made seven saves on 21 Hampden shots.
Hampden (11-3) likely will finish third in the final Heal point ratings, trailing top-seeded Lewiston and No. 2 Brunswick, while 9-2-3 Bangor is expected to be the No. 4 seed.
“We didn’t play as well as we can, but we played better than we have been,” said Stevens. “We have a lot to build off going into the playoffs. If we can find the ball up top, we can be as dangerous as any team out here, but getting the ball up there has been our problem and when we have problems with that we lose. Tonight we didn’t have a problem with that.”
Gardner staked Hampden to a 1-0 lead 7:09 into the match, accepting a long, high lead pass from Paxton Oversmith and lofting the ball from the edge of the penalty area just under the crossbar into the left side of the net.
Gardner then converted a penalty kick with 32:25 left in the half after Bangor was whistled for holding near the outer limits of the penalty area.
“Scoring two early gives us a lot of confidence, but it also scares me sometimes because I don’t want to sit back, I don’t want the team to feel like it has the game 10 minutes into the game,” said Gardner. “But if you just keep playing harder than you did before, you don’t have anything to worry about.”
The game went on to feature back-and-forth offensive forays from both teams amid rainy conditions, with Bangor finally breaking through early in the second half when Bach dribbled the ball through the Hampden defense from the left wing, then dropped it back to Berenyi, who lofted his shot into the net to make it a one-goal match.
Hampden finally regained control in sudden fashion with 12:01 left when Noah Parker sent a direct kick from the left wing into the penalty area, where Wilson was stationed perfectly to redirect the ball off his chest into the net past the screened-out Clarke.
The Broncos then pushed their lead to 4-1 with 9:43 left as Nick Chasse passed the ball to Nick Gilpin on the right wing, then Gilpin centered it ahead to Gardner for a one-timed redirection into the net.
Bangor countered three minutes later as Javon Myers scored off a Liam Harrigan corner kick, but Gardner scored from 15 yards out with 4:06 left to restore Hampden to a three-goal cushion.
