Gavin Carr and Ben Lord scored two goals apiece Tuesday evening as the Brewer High School boys soccer team kept its postseason hopes alive with a 4-0 victory over cross-river rival Bangor at historic Doyle Field.
Carr, Justyn George and Kyle Goodrich each added an assist for coach Ben Poland’s Witches, while goalie Matt Mousseau preserved the shutout with 12 often acrobatic saves.
This marked the only meeting of the regular season between Bangor and Brewer, the latter of which has returned to Class A North this fall after spending the last two years in Class B North.
Bangor began the night ranked sixth in the division, while Brewer was seeking to maintain its playoff hopes despite entering the contest on a seven-match losing streak that had left the Witches ranked 12th in the 13-school region.
The victory moved Brewer up to the ninth and final playoff spot in Class A North while Bangor dipped to seventh.
Carr, in his second match back after being sidelined for several goal with a broken collarbone, scored the only goal of the first half in the 24th minute off a throw-in from George.
The play capped off several minutes of offensive control by the Witches, with George restarting the action with a short throw-in to Carr along the right wing.
The junior forward then took a few dribbles toward the net to draw Bangor keeper Austin Conway far enough away from the goal to ground a shot inside the far corner of the net.
Bangor (4-5-3) finished the first 40 minutes of play with a 7-3 shots advantage, with senior Matt Mousseau coming up big in goal with several testing saves for the Witches.
Several of Bangor’s best bids came early in the half, beginning when Damien Sheffer was sent in alone against Mousseau six minutes into the match, only to have the Brewer goalie come out to the edge of the penalty box to make a sliding stop.
Bangor maintained possession in its offensive end, and two other challenging bids by the Rams within the next two minutes were blocked away by Mousseau.
Brewer (3-9) doubled its advantage early in the second half as sophomore Ben Lord scored off an assist from classmate Colby Smith.
Smith gained control of the ball near midfield and neatly slipped a pass between defenders toward a sprinting Lord racing down the right wing.
Lord just beat Conway to the ball, then patiently directed the ball between two defenders and into the net to give the Witches a 2-0 lead.
Lord notched his second goal of the match in the 55th minute, gathering the rebound of a shot by Smith and scoring into the open net.
Bangor responded with several good chances — a long shot by Sheffer off the crossbar that was followed seconds later by a bid by Andrew Munroe that slipped wide of the left post.
Carr then capped off the scoring, gaining control of a loose ball after Kyle Goodrich’s restart kick into the penalty area and connecting from close range.
