BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor High School boys soccer team showed off its youthful experience during a 1-0 Class A victory over rival Brewer on Wednesday evening.
The Rams, who fielded a starting lineup of two seniors, five juniors and four sophomores, controlled play for most of the 80 minutes and used a goal late in the first half by senior midfielder Carson Atherley to hold off the stubborn Witches.
“I thought our team played pretty well,” said first-year Bangor head coach Garth Berenyi. “Brewer came to play. They really pressed us and made it difficult for us to execute our game plan. But our kids stayed composed and worked hard the entire time.”
Bangor is 2-0. Brewer is 0-2 after a most demanding start to its season that included a 3-1 loss to defending state champion Lewiston before its one-goal defeat to the Rams.
“Lewiston and Bangor are very different teams, but both are very good teams, and we played really well against both,” said Brewer head coach Ben Poland. “That Lewiston game was 1-1 with 18 minutes left, and this game was back and forth a little bit, though mostly on our defensive end. But we kept our composure for the most part and played a pretty good game.”
Atherley — a fourth-year starter, and along with goalie George Payne, the lone senior starters for Bangor this year — headed the ball off the crossbar in the game’s opening minute and added at least two other balls off goalposts later in the match but did find the back of the net with 1:51 left in the opening half for what turned out to be the lone goal of the match.
Henry Nagle began the play with a throw-in from the right sideline to midfielder Jacob Berenyi along the offensive end line to the left of Brewer goalie Drew Baker. Berenyi was challenged by a defender but created enough room to direct the ball across the goal crease to the open Atherley, who one-timed the ball into the net.
“Jacob had it on the end line, and I knew he needed just an inch of space, and he crossed it, and I was free at the back post,” said Atherley. “It was one of those games where the ball was off the iron probably four or five times, that’s just the way it falls.
“But I got one of them,” he said.
Bangor outshot Brewer 15-3 before intermission, but Brewer battled more effectively after the break with sophomore midfielder Gavin Matthieu one of the Witches’ primary offensive threats.
“I thought we were a little sporadic, a little crazy,” said Poland. “We got away from our game plan a little bit, but we settled down in the second half, and I think played an all-around good game.
“It was mostly defensive, and we kind of knew that’s what we’d be facing with Bangor because they present numerous challenges. It’s not just one or two players you have to worry about, it’s six or seven players that you have to worry about,” he said.
Bangor finished with a 26-7 shots advantage for the match, with Payne making three saves for the Rams and Baker stopping 13 shots for Brewer.
“I thought we had a little let-up in the second half and made the game close, so we’ve got to become more consistent,” said coach Garth Berenyi. “We’ve got to be able to play at a competitive level for 80 minutes, and when we get ahead of a team, we’ve got to be able to put the game away.”
