Last season, a senior-laden Lisbon High School boys soccer team rolled to a 7-0 victory over a young Monmouth team on its way to an 11-2-1 record and a spot in the Western Maine Class C semifinals.

This year, the Mustangs, after opening with a 2-1 victory over Mountain Valley, had a goal to not get pushed around by the Greyhounds, circling Sept. 4 on their calendars during the preseason.

The final score — a 1-1 rainsoaked, double-overtime deadlock, a result both Monmouth (1-0-1) coach Joe Fletcher and Lisbon (0-0-1) headman Dan Sylvester were pleased about.

“This is a great tie for us, especially after coming out those first 15 minutes and trying to find ourselves,” said Sylvester, whose Greyhounds had nine new starters in the lineup in their opener. “We started to show what kind of a team we are, winning the 50- 50 balls and controlling play.”

“Last year, they took it too us really good, and we wanted to turn the table, and we did throughout the majority of this game,” said Fletcher. “I am not displeased. We played hard.”

A tough battle

A key matchup in this one was Monmouth striker Kyle Fletcher against Lisbon defender and freshman Jake Angelico.

The Monmouth sophomore scored the opening goal, stealing a Lisbon clear and firing a shot past Greyhound netminder Andrew Gamache at the 17-minute mark of the first half.

From there, Angelico shadowed the Mustangs’ standout, giving as much as he took over the final 73 minutes of soccer on the slippery field.

“Jake, being a freshman and being in that spot, with Kyle just so fast, I knew we were throwing him into the fire, and he did an outstanding job keeping him in check,” said Sylvester, whose squad heads to Hall-Dale on Thursday. “We knew Monmouth would look for Fletcher down the stretch, and my kids did very well.”

Kyle Fletcher did manage to cause problems for Lisbon. He broke free twice in overtime, forcing Gamache to make two of his eight saves.

“Kyle is real good and has put in a lot of time, and I must say their 24 (Angelico) played really well and did a good job,” said coach Fletcher.

“Everyone has their weaknesses and you just have to find them,” said Angelico. “I backed up a little bit more, knowing he is much faster than me. When he scored, I was too close to him. My mistake! I thought we were very nervous in the beginning, and we seemed to relax after we tied the game.”

The tying marker for Lisbon came with 9:41 remaining in the first half. Brady Fenderson sent a pass to Kyle Whitman, who darted past a Monmouth defender and let loose a hard shot into the upper corner of the net past the dive of Mustang goalkeeper Kasey Smith (nine saves).

“Kyle’s goal was huge, as we were looking for that goal to get that tie and just hoping that it pushes us up a little bit more,” said Sylvester. “We became more aggressive after that.”

After being outshot 7-2 in the first 30 minutes, Lisbon controlled the remainder of the first half after Whitman’s goal, finishing with a 9-8 edge in shots.

Smith’s best save came on a low skidding rocket by Tyler Bard late in the first half, while Aaron Halls put a scare into the visitors when his breakaway shot went inches wide of the target, and later Smith’s attempted clear caromed off the chest of Halls and nearly crossed the goal line before the netminder grabbed the bounding ball.

Monmouth held a slight edge in shots (20-19), with both teams taking seven corner kicks in the spirited contest.

Monmouth 1, Lisbon 1

At Lisbon High School
Monmouth—1000—1
Lisbon— 1000—1
Goals — (M) Kyle Fletcher; (L) Kyle
Whitman.
Assist — (L) Brady Fenderson.
Shots — Monmouth, 20-19.
Saves — (M) Kasey Smith 9; (L)
Andrew Gamache 8.
Corner kicks — Both teams had 7.
Records — Monmouth 1-0-1, Lisbon
0-0-1.
Next — The Greyhounds head to Hall-
Dale on Thursday.