Sanford 1
South Portland 9
The South Portland Red Riots boys soccer team posted a baseball score on Saturday, pounding the Sanford Redskins in a 9-1 win.
With the win, South Portland moves to 4-4-2 on the season, while the loss drops the Redskins to 1-10.
The Riots opened the scoring early in the first half. With about 25 minutes left, sophomore forward Brian Arsenault broke through the Redskin defense for the South Portland’s first goal of the game.
Sanford’s one offensive highlight of the game came with just under 20 minutes left in the first half. Senior midfielder Don Gagne was pushed down in the goal area and he was awarded a penalty kick.
Gagne calmly lined up the kick and put it into the far side of the net, just beyond the diving reach of Riots’ goalkeeper Ryan Chapin for the Redskins’ only goal of the contest.
The tie was didn’t last long, with about 14 minutes left in the first half, South Portland senior forward Brody Preston put the Riots in the lead for good. Preston took the ball down the sideline and blasted it past Sanford goalkeeper David Webb to put South Portland up 2-1.
Just about a minute later, Preston struck again. This time, he took a pass in front of the net and put it past Webb to give the Riots a 3-1 lead. Which is the way the first half ended.
The Riots’ offense exploded in the second half, scoring six unanswered goals to put the game out of reach.
Early in the half, Arsenault got his second goal of the contest to put the Riots up 4-1, when he put one past Webb, who had fallen down in front of the net.
About 10 minutes into the half, senior defender Nicholas Lagios was awarded a free kick, and he made the most of it. Lagios passed the ball across the goal area and senior forward Nicholas Link came leaping through a crowd of players to head the ball into the net with authority to give South Portland a 5-1 lead.
The Riots’ sixth goal of the game came with just under 30 minutes left in the game. Junior midfielder Kevin Campbell lofted a long shot from outside the goal area into the top corner of the net, just out of the reach of a leaping Webb.
South Portland got its next goal just minutes later when Webb collided with senior defender Bryce McOsker in front of the net. McOsker was awarded a penalty shot, and converted it into the top right corner of the net to give the Riots a 7-1 lead.
Another free kick led to the Riots’ eighth goal of the contest. The Riots’ Adam Burpee booted a free kick from midfield and midfielder Connor Hasson took the ball on a bounce and headed it in the Sanford net to give the Riots an 8-1 lead.
The Riots’ final goal came when Alec Dacar got a rebound in front of the net and put it home to close out the scoring at 9-1 in favor of the Riots.
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