Unbeaten Scarborough holds off Windham in boys’ soccer

By Matt Pascarella

Windham went up against undefeated Scarborough at Windham on Monday, Sept. 22 and while the Eagles made it especially difficult for the Red Storm in the first half and kept them scoreless for the first 60 minutes, Scarborough’s defense was equally as tough, and kept Windham scoreless for two halves. At the final buzzer, Scarborough won 2-0.

Windham sophomore Sean Lebel turns to quickly get by an
opponent during a boys' varsity soccer game against
Scarborough on Monday, Sept. 22 at Windham High
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

“I think especially in the first 60 minutes we were creating opportunities,” said Windham senior Daniel Hancock. “We were possessing the ball, winning 50-50s, and that’s just the energy we need to keep the whole game. We were confident on the ball and that led to us getting more opportunities. We know we can play with any team in the state; it’s just playing that 80 minutes and scoring goals. That (scoreless for 60 minutes) gives us a little more confidence, but there’s still a lot of stuff to work on; it’s nobody’s fault, we just got to keep communicating and working at practice. If we fill those gaps in, we’ll be alright.”

Hancock said their problem all fall has been finishing; they need to score. He believes things are going to start clicking soon and they’ll figure it out.

Both teams started with incredibly strong defense. Windham went hard after the ball. Windham fired several shots at goal, but nothing got in.

Windham defense remained strong for the entire half as they made it difficult for Scarborough to score.

Senior Windham goalie Tate Robinson had several nice saves and the game was scoreless after one half of play.

“We prepared for the game really well and we expected to play with them,” said Windham sophomore Sean Lebel. “Our goal was to just hold them off as long as we could and put one in the back of the net, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. We had great opportunities in the first half, and we just ran out of gas in the second half. We were able to pair the ball really well we found marks in the back and when we were on the counterattack, we pushed the ball really quickly; we had a lot of good shots on net.”

Lebel said the mental and physical aspects need work. They need to build up more and stay connected.

In the second half, Windham came out with equal intensity as the first half, but it only lasted the first 20 minutes, which is when Scarborough scored.Windham kept their heads up and continued to fight.

Scarborough scored again, but Windham would not allow any more goals before the final buzzer.

“That first 60 minutes is the best we’ve played all year and that’s a huge success,” said Windham varsity boys’ soccer coach Jeff Neal. “The grind is there, the desire is there, the work rate is there, the believability is there in moments, but it’s not there consistently enough. We got to put the ball in the net and that’s something we’re working real hard at, and we’ll continue to work hard at and day-in-day-out. We had some great chances, it’ll come; everything seems to be right, but it’s not coming up right. We’re not going to get down on ourselves.

"We had some good combination play on the left flank in the first part of the second half but couldn’t connect that run on the finishing ball ... and when you're trying to push it a little bit that's a hard thing to sustain," Neal said. Hopefully we’re going to have some young players step up and we’re going to see some opportunities and just run, if it’s only five or six minutes if it gives some of our first-line guys a breather, I think tactically that’s something we need to look at more. Fuel in the tank – we ran out of it tonight.” <