Bangor defense prevails for win Towne’s goal beats Old Town

BANGOR – The defense for the Bangor girls soccer team looked solid in the first half of Tuesday’s matchup against Old Town at the high school field.

In the second half, the Ram backfield was stellar.

That defensive effort, plus a goal from Jenn Towne, sealed Bangor’s 1-0 victory over the Indians.

The Rams go to 8-2-1, and the win over a good Old Town team (4-5-1) should help later this week when Bangor faces Hampden and Presque Isle, its toughest opposition.

“This game is going to set the tone for us [for the rest of the season],” Towne said.

Bangor coach Jeff Ingalls was pleased with the defenders, who helped the Rams to their fourth shutout in five games.

“They were fabulous,” he said. “The Old Town team is such a good passing team and [Bangor] held strong.”

The Ram defenders allowed just two shots in the second half and outshot Old Town 11-5 overall. Bangor goalie Ilyse Angst finished with three saves.

Bangor, which beat the Indians 2-1 earlier in the season, chose not to mark anyone with a stopper – an important consideration when playing Old Town’s dangerous Hannah Marquis. Bangor had marked her in the first game and she scored an early goal, but didn’t have many other chances.

“The first time we played we marked her the whole game and she didn’t get anything, so we tried playing without marking her and we still handled her, so we let her go,” said Bangor’s Jessie Roberts, a defensive midfielder.

Marquis did have one of Old Town’s best chances of the game after she hit the left post on a long corner kick. But the Bangor defense was able to keep the Indians from getting off good breakaways.

“We knew the only way we would score against Bangor would be on a breakaway run,” Old Town coach Mike St. Peter said. “We had them, but we just didn’t finish them.”

The Rams struggled to finish their shots, too, until Towne’s goal with 26:16 left in the second half.

She scored during a scramble of kicks in front of the Old Town goal. Justine Smith got a foot on a loose ball and kicked the ball forward to Towne, who struck it high into the upper right corner of the net.

“We were both standing next to each other with defenders and the ball was bobbling around,” Towne said. “She tried to pass it forward and I just kicked it.”

Old Town has been dealing with some injuries lately which have put regular center midfielder Renee Thibodeau in goal. She finished the game with four saves on 11 shots.

St. Peter was happy with Thibodeau’s effort and his defense for holding the Rams to the one goal.

“We put one extra person in the back so we didn’t have to double up on anyone,” he said. “I think it was pretty effective.”