Brewer had two opportunities at net in the first half and scored on both.
Braden Carr scored for the Witches with 26 minutes left in the first off a beautiful feed from Josh Schneider.
The goal gave the Witches some breathing room and they continued to attack to try and get another goal before halftime, ultimately defeating Bangor 2-1.
Pivotal play: Brewer got the ball to Andrew Hodgins, who slid and kicked the ball hard from the left corner of the penalty box and into the back of the net with 12 minutes left in the half to put Brewer ahead 2-0.
In the second half, the Witches braced for an aggressive Bangor attack. The Rams had plenty of shots at goal, some on target and some wide.
“I told the guys at halftime to be prepared for the hardest 40 minutes that we’ve played to date, and it was,” Brewer coach Ben Poland said. “They played super hard, they pressed a lot and honestly they had us on our heels for most of the half.”
Kristian Kendall scored off a corner kick to cut the Bangor deficit to 2-1 but the Witches hung on for the victory at Doyle Field.
Big takeaway: “We shouldn’t have been down 2-0 to start anyway,” Bangor coach Don Erb said. “I thought it was unlucky. They had, what, two chances and scored twice and we had a bunch of chances. I just said, I really felt confident that we were going to at least tie the game or win the game and I felt we had more pressure. I know this end has tougher conditions but I just said, ‘Hey, we’re going to go after them.’”
Brewer goalkeeper Grady Vanidestine made save after save in the second half to hold off the Rams with help from his back line which made a few blocks in front of goal. Brewer’s attack didn’t have many chances at all in the second half as Bangor dominated possession, fighting for goals.
“We were going to be on the road for the playoffs anyway, no matter what, but we wanted to learn from this,” Erb said. “What we’ve struggled with is the final ball, do you pass it or do you shoot it. It showed itself again tonight.”
Up next: Bangor will play away at Hampden Academy to end the regular season.
Brewer will host Camden Hills in its final regular season game.
Correction: A previous story misidentified who scored Bangor’s goal. It was Kristian Kendall.
