BANGOR – The Bangor High School Rams did everything but put the ball in the net during the first 36 minutes, 57 seconds of their soccer game against visiting Lawrence of Fairfield.
They pressured the ball all over the field, won virtually all of the 50-50 balls and attacked with numbers only to have freshman goalie Cody Fabian frustrate them with several terrific stops.
But senior striker Devin Lincoln scored a pair of goals 1:41 apart to close out the first half and the Rams went on to post an impressive 6-0 victory.
The defending state Class A champs took 40 shots to Lawrence’s six, and Fabian finished with nine saves for the 2-4 Bulldogs. Erik Milles made three saves on five shots for Bangor and Bud Angst finished up. Angst didn’t have to make a save.
Bangor has now outscored its opponents 31-2.
“They’re very good,” said Lawrence coach Bob Towne. “They move the ball very well. They have a lot of speed coming forward.”
Bulldog senior midfielder Chris Pooler concurred, saying, “They played very well.”
Lincoln opened the scoring when Brandon Landry’s corner kick deflected to him in the middle of the penalty area.
“I just turned around and tried to send it into the corner. Their goalie was shielded,” said Lincoln, who struck the ball with the inside of his right foot.
Fabian dove to his right but couldn’t keep it out of the net.
Moments later, right back Christian Larochelle fed the ball to Landry. He passed it down the right flank to Lincoln, who was locked in a one-on-one battle with a Lawrence defender.
“I tried to pressure their defender,” said Lincoln, who won the ball near the end line to the left of Fabian and sprinted out to give himself a shooting angle.
“When I looked up, the goalie had come out to cut off the cross. Mack Susi was calling for the ball. Once the goalie came out, the goal was wide open and I put it in,” said Lincoln.
Lawrence had a good chance to pull within one early in the second half when Nick Sterling made a dangerous run down the left flank and crossed it to Zack Hann at the top of the penalty area. However, Hann’s volley skipped just wide.
Nick George made it 3-0 with 22:38 remaining and his corner set up a Pat Bolduc volley 5:45 later.
Freshmen Jacques Larochelle and Jack Stacey added late goals.
George’s first goal came off a give-and-go with Dan Taft that allowed George to run freely into the penalty area.
“That was a nice ball. It was mostly Dan’s execution [that produced the goal]. The goalie was to the left and I put it far post with my left foot,” said George.
Bolduc volleyed George’s corner kick past a helpless Fabian before Larochelle volleyed another in and Stacey converted a Landry rebound.
“We had a pretty solid performance. Everybody contributed tonight,” said Christian Larochelle, who is one of four Ram captains.
Bangor coach Adam Leach said Lincoln and tireless sophomore midfielder Cody Cormier “led the charge as far as putting pressure on them and holding them at bay. That allowed the rest of the guys to do their jobs.”
JV: Bangor 2-0
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