STACYVILLE, Maine — The visiting Southern Aroostook Community School Warriors received first-half goals from Josh Perrin and Jackson Mathers and played stout defense in the second half en route to a 2-0 shutout over the Katahdin Cougars soccer team on Tuesday afternoon.
Mathers’ goal came just four minutes into the game when he delivered a low lined shot from the right corner that beat Cougar goalie Lane Tanner. Perrin made it 2-0 with 17:21 to play in the half with a hard strike from about 25 feet away, after first receiving a crossing pass from teammate Tyler Batchelder near midfield.
“Defensively, I thought we were better in the first half,” Southern Aroostook coach David Day said. “We set up in a defensive mode in the second half, but we seemed a little flat.”
The Warriors (1-1) held an 11-9 advantage in shots and 9-3 edge in corner kicks. Nolan Altvater and Tanner both recorded nine saves in goal for the Warriors and Cougars (0-1), respectively.
“Obviously, we have some very good players. However, making some changes in positions is going to be required, which is a task in its own,” Day said. “If the kids can buy into that premise we will have more success. I feel we may get off to a slow start, but as the season progresses, and confidence increases, we will have more success.”
The Cougars are playing short-handed this season, with exactly 11 players on the roster. That means no breaks and no substitutions on the soccer pitch.
Katahdin coach Phil Faulkner, who inherited the coaching job just one week ago, said he was pleased with the effort put forth by his squad, considering they have no bench players. The team is also inexperienced — five members have never played competitive soccer before this year.
“We have to work on our short passing game, because we don’t have the numbers to boom it and run to one end [of the field] and then run back to the other,” Faulkner said. “I am really impressed with what I have seen so far. The kids played hard and were aggressive, which is what we will need to do. We can’t let teams push us around.”