Braves crush Clippers basically

College soccer

The Husson College men’s soccer team got back to the basics of ball control on Wednesday and executed it to perfection as the Braves held an injury-plagued University of Maine-Machias team without a shot at goal en route to a 6-0 victory in Bangor.

Freshman midfielder Adam Heaslewood notched his first collegiate hat trick, upping his total to nine goals on the season, and he also had an assist.

Gary Thompson and Jake Dragutinovic each scored their second goals of the year, and Corey Frink collected his third.

Husson goalie Jim Wishart posted his sixth shutout.

“We played very unselfishly,” said fullback and tri-captain Jason Brewer. “We passed well, and a lot of people had opportunities to score. Even the defense got involved in the offense.”

“Our goal was to control the ball,” said Husson Coach Mitch Ellisen. “That’s what we did, and I was also pleased that we created a lot of scoring opportunties and finished some of them.”

The Braves wound up with 40 shots at goal and 15 of those went on goal. UMM goalie Scott Douglas finished with nine saves.

The 0-6 Clippers played clean, constructive soccer and worked hard throughout the game, but they were unable to mount any kind of attack against the 7-4 Braves. UMM was without four injured starters.

Heaslewood gave Husson a lead it would never relinquish 7:01 into the game off a Thompson pass.

Thompson had the ball along the right side of the penalty area and slid the ball back to Heaslewood, who was 10 yards beyond the top of the area.

The open Heaslewood unleashed a blistering left-footed shot that cleanly beat Douglas inside the post to the goalie’s right.

“I took a look up and just tried to hit the target,” said Heaslewood. “Coach (Ellisen) has been trying to get me to keep my shots down.”

A little more than seven minutes later, Dragutinovic made a great move and left three defenders behind as he dribbled towards the end line and crossed the ball.

Douglas came out to punch it away, but it wound up deflecting to the head of Thompson, who nodded it into the open net.

Frink made it 3-0 after Jamie Collett had threaded a nifty pass to the open Thompson in front of the net. Douglas came out to smother Thompson’s shot, but the rebound went to Frink, who deposited it in the back of the net.

Heaslewood got a gift goal in the second half to make it 4-0 when his corner kick glanced off the bodies of two UMM defenders and deflected into the net.

Dragutinovic made it 5-0 when Heaslewood slipped him a pass just beyond the top of the penalty area, he broke through a gap in the defense, then ripped a low shot inside the right post.

Heaslewood capped the scoring with only three seconds remaining when he converted a penalty kick.