Portland found its scoring touch at just the right time Monday night to pull out a 2-1 win against Thornton Academy in an SMAA boys’ soccer game at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Zekariya Shaib and Alex Millones scored in the last six minutes as the Bulldogs won their regular-season finale, snapping a two-game losing streak. Portland (10-3-1) will get a bye in the first round of the Class A South tournament as one of the top four seeds.
“We just needed to find a scoring touch, and that was what I was looking for,” Portland Coach Rocco Frenzilli said. “I was pulling my hair out, what little I have left, looking for the right combination. The coaching staff saw something and ran it by me. We moved (sweeper) Quinn (Clarke) up to defensive mid, and it gave us a little bit more energy up top.”
Shaib tied the score in the 74th minute when he redirected a rebound into the goal after Thornton keeper Travis Snyder stopped Millones’ hard shot from just inside the penalty area.
Then, with less than a minute remaining, Millones intercepted a clearing pass and sent a shot from 25 yards on the right side of the field into the upper left corner.
The Bulldogs were coming off a pair of 1-0 losses last week against South Portland and Scarborough.
“I’ve got to give our kids a lot of credit,” Frenzilli said. “They really responded.”
Until the final 15 minutes, it looked like the Trojans (8-5-1) were going to earn their most significant win so far this season, but Coach Andrew Carlson wasn’t surprised to see Portland rally.
“(Portland) had the better of the play for the last 20 or 25 minutes. They’re big, strong and physical, and they’re deeper than us, and they can be more dynamic than us at the end of the match,” said Carlson.
The Trojans opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Zachary Thyng took a feed from Eric McCallum during a two-on-one break and beat keeper Rowan Daligan from 10 yards.
“If you’re going to beat a team like that, you have to play the last 10 minutes of the match like you played the first 10 minutes, and we didn’t do that – physically and mentally,” Carlson said.
Portland held a 19-9 edge in shots, with most of that advantage coming during the second half.
“When you score, you’ve had a string of right things that happened, and when you get scored on, it’s because of a number of things you did, and that’s what happened late in the match,” Carlson said. “We didn’t play a complete game against those guys.”
Still Thornton Academy had chances to add to its lead.
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Daligan stopped Frantisek Vondrak’s blast from 10 yards. Then he used his foot to deflect a shot by Brogan Searle-Belanger away from the goal.
“He’s been doing that all year, and the defense has been strong,” said Frenzilli, whose team hasn’t allowed more than one goal in any game this season.
“The way this league is now, it’s tough top to bottom. The tournament is going to be interesting. It’s going to be fun.”
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