WHS varsity boys’ soccer falls to Greely in preseason game

By Matt Pascarella

The start of the high school fall sports season has already begun, but in preparation for it, the Windham’s varsity boys’ soccer team played one final preseason game against Greely at Greely High School in Cumberland on Saturday, Aug. 29.

Windham junior Liam Wade tries to stop his opponent's
progress during a preseason boys' soccer game at
Greely High School in Cumberland on Aug. 29.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

The game was a hard-fought defensive battle that witnessed both teams going scoreless for over 60 minutes. 

More than halfway through the second half, the ball slipped through Windham senior goalie Jackson Goodwin’s fingers and gave the Rangers a 1-0 win.

“The effort was there,” said Windham senior Cameron Drapeau. “I don’t think we executed as we should of, our communication was less than it was in previous games. We need to execute and communicate our passes; work as we know we can. Our passing has been good; our communication has been better than last season. Communication can still improve. Overall, our possession and being calm on the ball can improve.”

The Eagles came out ready to play and defense was solid for the entire half, with neither team scoring. During the first and second half, Windham goalie Goodwin made multiple impressive saves.

“We as a team lacked winning headers, lacked getting to the ball,” said Goodwin.

In the second half, the first 20-plus minutes were scoreless. Then, with a little over 16 minutes left to play, the ball narrowly slipped through Goodwin’s fingers to give Greely its only goal of the game.

“I think a positive you can take away is if you take the goal that (Goodwin) gave up away, it’s still a 0-0 game,” said Windham varsity boys’ soccer coach Cole Washburn. “Positives were the effort was really, really high, no one gave up, they continued to play through; that says a lot about the program and where it’s headed going into the regular season ... wanting to play at a high level at all times. Now we know what we need to fix and work on ... we’ll work for the next few days on winning balls in the air, know where guys are on the field at all times and working together on the field. It’s about being better every day.”

Goodwin said the 60 scoreless minutes of play shows that Windham can play with just about any other team with a lot of passion and a lot of effort. He said they need to connect passes and keep communication up the entire game. <