PORTLAND — The playoff picture is coming into focus for the Kennebunk boys soccer team.
The Rams braved through wet conditions Tuesday, but used a wider field to their advantage to take a 3-0 win over Deering at Memorial Field in Portland.
With the win, Kennebunk climbed to a 4-3-2 record on the season, and skipped over Deering for 10th place in the Western Class A standings. The top 12 teams will enter the playoffs at the end of the season.
Every win for Kennebunk is more important, especially with five more games left in the season. Of the five remaining games, Kennebunk faces Portland and Gorham, two teams that are ranked higher than the Rams in the MPA Heal Point standings, giving Kennebunk more of an opportunity to move up the ladder.
“It’s a competitive league,” Kennebunk head coach Nathan Bean said. “We’re trying to be there at the end. We took a step in the right direction tonight.”
It’s the third time this season Kennebunk has scored three goals or more, as the Rams beat Bonny Eagle 3-2 on Sept. 13, and beat Sanford 4-0 on Sept. 8.
Kennebunk’s win also snapped a two-game losing streak, as Cheverus and South Portland in the past two games had shut out the Rams.
Bean said he was happy to see his team put together a strong offensive performance.
“To keep finding the back of the net was something that we needed to do,” Bean said. “It’s good for us to get some goals. I think we certainly played a good match, our intensity dropped in the last 20 (minutes), but other than that, I saw a real solid match. It’s nice that we had a little bit of a layoff last week with our schdedule, and now we have Portland and Gorham in our next two matches.”
Though it rained throughout the entire contest, Kennebunk took advantage of the fast and wide track of Memorial Field, which uses FieldTurf. Because of the wider field, Kennebunk made longer passes near the goal, setting up scoring opportunities to teammates.
And it worked.
Kennebunk scored inside the first two minutes of the first half, when Charlie Merry found a loose ball in front of the Deering net and knocked it past goalkeeper Jamie Gullbrand to take a 1-0 lead. Kennebunk kept the ball on the Deering side of the field through much of the half, and eventually scored inside of the five-minute mark of the half. A nice, high pass from Jacob Jorgenson bounced off the head of Lucas Butterfield and found its way into the net, giving Kennebunk the 2-0 lead going into halftime.
Play went back-and-forth between both teams in the second half, though Deering did a better job of putting pressure on Kennebunk. But it was Kennebunk that sealed the win at the midway point in the half, when Harrison Hall took a Jorgenson pass and knocked it past Gullbrand, giving the Rams the 3-0 lead.
Kennebunk goalkeeper John Burns made seven saves for the shutout.
Deering (4-5) moved down to 11th in the MPA standings, but is still in the thick of the playoff race. Deering head coach Joel Costigan credited Kennebunk after the game.
“They outplayed us,” Costigan said. “They played hard, they won every ball, literally, every ball. They played quick, and they played more physical than we did. We’ve talked about that all season, winning balls in the air, staying on our marks and covering men. We didn’t play hard enough tonight, we didn’t play our game, and that’s too bad.”
Kennebunk hosts Portland on Thursday. Game time is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.
“The league is deep, and the league is good,” Bean said. “It’s going to be fun come playoff time. It’s going to be fun and I think a lot of teams are going to have a chance to get through it.”
Notes: Deering had a lone white jersey laying across its bench during Tuesday’s contest. The Rams have been honoring former teammate and captain Mohammed Hassan all season long. Hassan, who would have been a senior this year, drowned a month ago while swimming with friends in the Presumpscot River. Before each game, Deering players carry Hassan’s jersey while taking its warmup lap around the field, and then place his jersey on the bench. Each player has also worn a black armband with Hassan’s No. 7 during the game. Hassan was named an honorary captain at the start of the Rams’ season.
— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318 or follow on Twitter @Dave_Dyer.
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