Lakers top Rangeley for a berth in regional championship
GREENVILLE — The sixth-seeded Greenville High School boys soccer team battled No. 10 Rangeley Lakes Regional High School and the elements — temperatures were in the upper 30s with showers on Saturday afternoon leading to a muddy field — but the Lakers won the Class D South semifinal with a 3-0 victory. The win advanced Greenville to the regional final set for Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 3 p.m. at top-seeded Richmond High School (15-1).
“It wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it,” Greenville coach William Foley said. “I guess we’ll just blame it on the conditions.”
For the first 25 minutes the score remained 0-0 despite Greenville keeping the ball on the Rangeley side of the field for most of the timespan. The host Lakers only had three early shots on goal against a team that advanced after pulling off a pair of postseason upsets, including knocking off the second seed Seacoast Christian School of South Berwick, 6-1, earlier in the week.
After 25 minutes elapsed, Greenville was awarded the first corner kick of the game. From the left side sophomore Ben Baldwin put the ball in play as he sent a kick to a grouping of players inside the box.
Laker junior Connor DiAngelo leapt and got a head on the corner kick. DiAngelo sent his header at the net and his shot landed out of reach of Rangeley junior keeper Hunter Lowell for the goal and 1-0 advantage.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we wanted to but we did what we needed to,” DiAngelo said, pointing out that the conditions on the pitch were the same for both squads.
An insurance goal came early in the second half. Following a Baldwin corner kick from the right, the ball rolled loose in front of the goal. Junior Noah Pratt got a foot on it as he tapped the ball to classmate Nick Foley. Foley dug the ball from out of the mud and he sent it up into the top of the goal to put Greenville on top 2-0 at the 35:35-mark.
Just over 10 minutes later Pratt was pulled down near the box and the officials awarded him a free kick. Pratt’s shot was stopped by Lowell but the ball fell out of the keeper’s grasp where it rolled to Laker freshman Christopher Caiazzo. Caiazzo made Lowell paid for his miscue as he kicked the ball in from the left for the third final Greenville goal of the day.
The Lakers’ goal total equaled the number of shots given up by the team’s defense (vs. 14 shots on the Rangeley goal). Greenville junior Evan Bjork made one save for the shutout, the eighth in 16 games this season for the Lakers.
The victory improved Greenville to 10-5-1 on the season as the team has won five of its last six contests. Rangeley’s upset run ended with the team finishing at 7-8-2.
Greenville and Richmond are set to play Wednesday for a berth in Saturday’s state championship, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at on the field turf at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland against either North No. 1 Fort Fairfield High School or the second-seeded Bangor Christian School.
Greenville and Richmond did not face one another in 2016. From 2009-14 the two soccer programs faced off in the playoffs each year, including several meetings in the regional championship game with both schools earning victories in the series.
BOYS SOCCER
Class D South
semifinal
No. 6 Greenville 3,
No. 10 Rangeley 0
RANG 0 0 | 0
GRVL 1 2 | 3
First: G — DiAngelo
(Baldwin).
Second: G — Foley
(Pratt);
G — Caiazzo.
Saves: R — Lowell 3;
G — Bjork 1.
Corner kicks: R — 2;
G — 4.
Records: R — 7-8-2;
G — 10-5-1.
PO-spsocharmon-44-16 19020203 :
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
POINTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION — Greenville freshman Camden Harmon gets around Rangeley junior Kyle Larochelle during the Class D South semifinal on Oct. 29 in Greenville. The host Lakers earned a 3-0 victory to move on the regional championship scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at top seed Richmond High School.