Shires, Warriors can’t break a tie Winless Houlton battles solid FK

FORT KENT – As yet another pass sailed over the forwards on the Fort Kent boys soccer team, and yet another scoring opportunity went by, Warriors coach Dave Minzy called out some instructions for his team during Thursday evening’s game against Class B rival Houlton.

“Take a rip, not a chip,” Minzy yelled to his offense.

The big shots seemed to plague Fort Kent through 80 minutes of regulation and two five-minute overtime periods. Despite attempting 32 shots on the Shiretowners, the Warriors could only muster a 1-1 double-overtime tie in chilly, blustery conditions at the high school field here.

On paper the game was a bit of a mismatch, with the now 3-1-1 Warriors going up against Houlton, now 0-3-2. The Shiretowners had yet to score a goal in their four previous games.

“This is a little better than average,” Houlton goalie Eric O’Connell said. “We’re happy to come away with anything but a loss, but we would have rather won.”

Fort Kent had the wind early but Keton Strong gave Houlton a first-half lead when Fort Kent goalie Dustin Nadeau came out to make a save. The ball dropped from his hands and Strong shot it in.

Fort Kent’s Ethan Raymond tied it up with 5:13 left on a penalty kick. O’Connell guessed correctly when he went to his left, but the shot was too wide for him.

O’Connell didn’t make any more mistakes. He leapt for, crawled to, and fell on 18 Fort Kent attempts. Sweeper Jared Sylvia quelled several Fort Kent flurries.

“[Fort Kent’s strikers] seemed like they weren’t really passing to people and our defense took advantage of that,” O’Connell said. “I give most of the credit to our sweeper. He does a great job, clears balls out with his head and keeps it pretty well clear inside the 18 [yard-line] for me.”

Fort Kent’s biggest problem was overanticipation – chipping, not ripping. The Warriors lofted shots from at least 20 yards out rather than take the ball hard to the goal. They improved in the second half, but so did the Houlton defense.

“That’s typical, and all the credit goes to Houlton because they did a good job defensively,” Minzy said. “… The first half was just us stepping and watching everyone else play. We were way too forward on some balls.”

The Warriors’ best chance to win it in the first overtime came when James Raymond hit the far post with about two minutes left.

Nadeau made one save on seven shots.