POLAND — It’s been a rough month of October for the Kennebunk boys soccer team. The Rams hadn’t recorded a victory or scored more than one goal since a 3-0 win over Cape Elizabeth on Sept. 30. The long wait for both to happen ended on Monday night, as Kennebunk beat Poland 3-1 in the regular season finale for both teams.

Looking for a spark with the playoffs on the horizon, the Rams came out with plenty of intensity against the Knights, but the frenetic pace at which they played didn’t lead to a structured attack. Kennebunk had three shots in the first 10 minutes, but nothing that put too much pressure on Poland goalie Zach Lowe.

“I think that’s been maybe our Achilles heel this year is we come out, we play awful hard, but sometimes we could play smarter,” said Kennebunk head coach Nathan Bean.

The Rams kept possession in the Poland end for much of the first half, but had some scary moments when the Knights were able to flip the field on the counterattack. Kennebunk goalie Tyler Dickinson had to make two saves on the ground in the final 10 minutes as Poland started to push back.

“We came in here, heads high. We really thought it was going to be an easier game, but they put up a good fight,” said Kennebunk senior Sam Whalen.

Kennebunk had a couple chances in the closing minutes, but a shot from 25 yards out by Dany Reyes-Caballero with two minutes to go went over the goal, and a shot from the left side of the penalty box from Patrick Gassman with 30 seconds left in the half hit off the top of the crossbar.

“We talked about it being a game that was there to win, and teams need to go do that this time of year,” said Bean.

The Rams finally got on the board just over two minutes into the second half, as passes started to click. Griffin Drigotas fed Ryan Keefe into the left side of the box, and Keefe’s perfectly-place cross found the head of Whalen by the right post for a goal.

“It felt really good just to get that one in finally,” said Whalen. “We’ve been working on that, starting wide. It clicked really perfectly.”

Both teams were foiled by the dimensions of the goal early in the half. Kennebunk’s Robby Burns hit the crossbar with a header off of a pass from Reyes-Caballero nine minutes in, and Poland’s Ethan Cailler knocked a shot off the left post three minutes later.

Gassman put a shot inside the goal frame midway through the half to give the Rams a 2-0 lead. Gassman got possession of the ball 35 yards out near the left sideline, took a couple dribbles, and blasted a shot that glanced off Lowe’s glove and into the back of the net.

“It was nice to see him get one on frame. Because when he gets it on frame, good things happen,” said Bean.

The Knights made it interesting, as they cut the lead to one goal with less than two minutes to go, as Nigel Williams blasted a direct kick from 40 yards out over Dickinson’s head and into the back of the goal.

But the Rams held on in the final minutes, and Spencer Thibodeau put an exclamation point on the win with a goal from the top-right of the box with three seconds left.

The victory gives Kennebunk some momentum as it prepares for a prelim game against South Portland on Saturday. The Rams won’t know if it’s a home or away game until after the Red Riots end their season against Marshwood today.

“It’s always nice to have a good, positive tone heading into the tournament,” said Bean.

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323.