Raymond soccer nabs back-to-back wins over Saint Dominic Academy

By Matt Pascarella

Raymond’s girls’ and boys’ soccer teams earned wins over Saint Dominic Academy at Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond on Monday, Sept. 25. The girls won, 1-0, and the boys earned a 5-1 win.

Raymond seventh grader Jack Buxton gets ahead of his
opponents in a game against Saint Dominic Academy on
Monday, Sept. 25 at Jordan-Small Middle School in
Raymond. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELA   

Girls

Raymond took the field aggressively and worked to be first to the ball, succeeding often. Raymond began the game by taking a shot on goal. A short time later another Raymond shot at the goal just barely missed finding the back of the net.

Raymond sixth grader Paige Leveille said communication and passing went well against their opponent.

Players from Raymond had strong defense during the game and kept Saint Dominic Academy from scoring and limited many of their chances. Raymond seventh grade goalie Layla Martin had several saves in the two halves. At the half, the game was scoreless.

The Raymond team didn’t let up as they began the second half. Raymond took a shot on goal that hit the crossbar. They continued to fire shot after shot at their opponent’s goal. Leveille scored in the second half.

Raymond defense remained strong and held off Saint Dominic Academy for the remainder of the game. Raymond did not let up their intensity until the final whistle.

“It was my first goal on the seventh and eighth grade middle school team – it felt really good,” said Leveille.

“I think they’re doing a really good job,” said Raymond girls’ soccer coach Mandy Anderson. “They’ve been working on their positioning; the key to winning is being a team and working together to make the goals happen. We had some good passes, some good give-and-go’s, the defense is really strong and keeping that line of keeping their offense off the net.”

Boys

The Raymond boys took the field ready to get the ‘W.’ They had several shots at goal early on and it didn’t take long before Raymond eighth grader Sean Lebel scored. Raymond controlled the ball and the field, with defense holding off Saint Dominic Academy. Midway through, Raymond led 1-0.

“Every day in practice we’ve kept improving; you can see they are starting to come together more as a team,” said Raymond boys’ soccer coach Andrew Wing. “Every practice, wanting to get better and it’s shown, they’ve gotten better.”

Wing said hustling, getting good crosses, which led to a couple goals, and taking the space in front of you all went well during the game.

The second half was goal heavy for Raymond. They kept up their intensity; Lebel scored again, then Saint Dominic Academy scored on themselves. Saint Dominic Academy scored on Raymond, but Raymond defense would allow only one goal.

Lebel scored again and Raymond seventh grader Jack Buxton found the back of the net before the end of the game.

“It was a beautiful pass from Sean, and I had in mind I was going to score,” said Buxton.

Buxton was the goalie in the first half and he said that the team’s defense was better than usual.

Lebel said practices and playing together as a team led to the win and that they get better every week and are connecting passes. <