BANGOR, Maine — A youthful Bangor High School boys soccer team could have been caught looking ahead to Thursday’s clash with defending Class A regional champion Lewiston.
But there was no evidence of that on the Rams’ part during their 2-0 victory over Brewer on Monday at Doyle Field in Brewer.
Second-half goals by Carson Atherley and David Miller propelled coach Billy Shannon’s club to its second straight shutout victory to open the season after Saturday’s 6-0 win over Oxford Hills of South Paris.
“It was improvement from Saturday, and every day we want to get better,” said Shannon. “We certainly did that over the course of the weekend and came out tonight and played well. The speed of play was good, and I thought we owned possession; it was pretty clear we had more of the chances.”
Bangor outshot Brewer 20-5, with senior Stanley Clarke required to make just two saves to earn the victory in goal.
Yet Brewer, which fell to Lewiston 4-2 on Saturday in what was a one-goal match until the final minutes, denied Bangor’s attackers until midway through the second half, thanks in great part to a pair of first-half saves by defender Carter Smith near the goal line.
Bangor ramped up its offensive pressure after intermission, with some strong work by sophomore David Miller setting up the go-ahead goal and adding the insurance tally nine minutes later.
Miller took a pass from Eli Clein on the left wing and spun past a defender before being tripped from behind at the edge of the penalty area. Atherley cashed in for the Rams, driving a low penalty kick to the right of Brewer goalie Jon Wood (seven saves) with 26:33 left.
“All game Eli and I were working down that side well together,” said Miller. “He sent me through with a great ball, and I just went around my defender, and he couldn’t keep up, so he did what he had to do.”
Miller made it 2-0 after accepting a lead pass from Garth Berenyi down the right sideline and dribbling toward the net. When his centering pass to Atherley was blocked, Miller scored on the rebound.
“That was a great ball by Garth, and I went down the line and tried to pass the ball across to Carson and just got lucky and it came back to me, and I put it into the back of the net,” said Miller.
Bangor had the two best early scoring bids midway through the first half, both set up by Clein centering passes from the left end line.
But both times Smith blocked the attempts.
On the first bid, Clein carried the ball to the left-side end line and rifled a centering pass to Colin Waterman, whose redirection was blocked by Smith.
Three minutes later, Atherley gained control near midfield and passed ahead to Clein on the left wing. Clein — who had scored three goals in Bangor’s win over Oxford Hills — again raced to the end line and centered the ball to the streaking Miller, only to have Smith again block the shot before Wood gained possession to end the play.
“At halftime we just talked about finishing and the quality of service,” said Shannon, “and in the second half, we made the best of that.”
