Ellsworth rolls by GSA in 2nd half Katsiaficas, Nabozny, Leighton, Crossman score goals for winners

ELLSWORTH – Despite a first half filled with good scoring opportunities, the Ellsworth boys soccer team was still looking for something to ignite its offense in the second half Tuesday night against George Stevens Academy.

Ellsworth got its jump-start in the form of a quirky Dem Katsiaficas goal, which broke the ice en route to a 4-0 win over Hancock County rival GSA of Blue Hill at a foggy, chilly Del Luce Stadium.

Katsiaficas put in the eventual game-winner 7 minutes, 19 minutes after halftime as the Ellsworth Eagles move to 6-1 and the GSA Eagles fall to 3-3-1.

Pat Nabozny scored Ellsworth’s second goal with 13:17 left. Chris Leighton put in another 34 seconds later.

“We were sluggish all game and then when [Katsiaficas’ goal] finally went in, that kind of opened it up,” senior Leighton said. “It got us a little more pumped up to play and then they fell in from there. … GSA came to play and that kind of caught us off-guard.”

Backup Tom Crossman, a senior who has never played before this year, got his first career goal in the final minutes.

GSA freshman goalie Rashad Frazier kept his team in it in the first half and wound up with eight saves on 18 Ellsworth shots. But he was unable to stop Ellsworth’s first shot of the second half.

Katsiaficas dribbled in from the right wing and kicked the ball, aiming for the left side of the net. The ball hit the post but caromed back and rolled across the goal line.

From the sidelines it was hard to tell the ball crossed the line, which made for a delayed reaction from both teams.

“That seems to be my best angle,” said Katsiaficas, who is also a senior. “I just kicked it in. I don’t know. It was a hard angle [for Frazier].”

Ellsworth coach Brian Higgins was hoping the team would find a spark somehow.

“We had a stern talk at halftime,” he said. “… Then they came out and played better, hustled a little bit more. That’s all I ask for them to do.”

George Stevens was also missing three players for various reasons and fullback Lucas Marks played despite an illness.

“Rashad had a fantastic game game,” GSA coach Jim Sperry said. “The defense did great. … After the first goal the middle opened up [for Ellsworth]. They kept working that middle. And when we started to get tired it really showed.”

GSA had just two shots on Ellsworth goalie Greg Berry, but the winners knew it had been a tough rivalry game.

“It’s just like MDI,” Katsiaficas said. “No matter what kind of team they have or we have, it’s gonna be a good game.”