STANDISH – Even when they’re not replacements, sometimes officials can have an immense impact not necessarily for the better. Such was the case in the Westbrook-Bonny Eagle boys soccer game Tuesday night.

Bonny Eagle forward Valentin Sindlinger scored the winning goal in controversial fashion 15 minutes into the second half as the Scots beat Westbrook 2-1 at home to go to 2-6 on the season. Sindlinger appeared to be clearly offside when Ryan Kern’s pass played him in, but the referees’ arm stayed down, to the surprise of even the goal scorer.

“Yeah,” Sindlinger said with a grin when asked if he was offside on the play. “But I just kicked it in.”

Westbrook coach John Morgan, whose team fell to 0-7-1 with the loss, wasn’t smiling quite as much.

“The call is what it is,” he said. “It’s tough, but at the same time we did have our opportunities and didn’t take advantage of them. It stinks that it comes down to a call like that but we had numerous opportunities and we didn’t put them in, and that’s been our issue all year.”

Coming in, scoring had been an issue for both squads, who between them had tallied eight goals in 14 games, but the first seven minutes represented an offensive explosion as both teams scored early goals.

Bonny Eagle grabbed the opener just 2:27 in when a through ball sent Ryan Kern in on the Westbrook goal. The forward beat his defender to the ball and kept his composure to slot the ball past goalkeeper Austin Blake for a 1-0 lead.

It didn’t last long, though, as Owen Gillis grabbed the equalizer just four minutes later. The junior forward collected the ball near midfield and played a cool give-and-go with Chadd Pelletier to free up space. Gillis received Pelletier’s pass back just inside the box and whacked a left-footed shot past Scots keeper Jeff Martin and into the far side of the net to even things up.

“Any time you team’s down and they bounce back, that’s good,” Morgan said. “It’s always important to be able to overcome any adversity you face in game, and that was a good example of us doing that, which is encouraging.”

Though the Blue Blazes would outshoot Bonny Eagle 5-3 in the half, it was the Scots who created the three best chances before the break.

First it was Kern again getting behind the Westbrook defense, but his attempted chip over an onrushing Blake went just over the bar. Kern was again at the center of things at the 13:30 mark when his free kick from just outside the box was nearly put in at the far post by a sliding Zack Moody, who steered his attempt just wide.

Then, with a minute to play, Sindlinger won a long ball inside the Blue Blazes box, made a move around his defender but could only find the side netting with his shot.

The second half started much like the first, and the Scots nearly had their second goal 3:40 in when James Patchell beat two defenders down the right side to open up room for a shot at the near post, with Blake making a great reaction save to rob him of the go-ahead tally.

And less than a minute later it was Westbrook who nearly went ahead when a scramble in front of the net ended with the ball being directed right at Martin, who was able to get two hands to the shot to push it up and over the bar.

The next 10 minutes were fairly calm, but the game was kicked started into life in contentious fashion at the 24:06 mark. It started with the Scots winning a free kick from 35 yards out, which was lofted high into the center of the box.

A Blue Blazes defender cleared it away, but only as far as Kern near the edge of the 18-yard area. Seeing Blake way off his line Kern put the ball back across goal towards Sindlinger. With Blake out of his net and just one Westbrook defender anywhere near the goal, Sindlinger had an easy tap that wasn’t whistled offside.

“To be honest I was looking at the ref to see what he was going to call because I didn’t know,” Bonny Eagle coach Larry Robertson said. “I saw that Ryan had played the ball across and then I just saw Valentin put the ball in. Questionable either way.”

An exchange student from Germany, Sindlinger said he was getting used to “more physical” brand of play in the SMAA, to the pleasure of his coach.

“With Valentin I think he adds a sense of composure,” Robertson said. “He’s pretty skillful on the ball so the boys look to him to kind of hold the ball up for us and move it around. He definitely adds that advantage that we need.”

In the minutes after the goal the teams traded chances, with Martin making a nice sprawling save on a Luther Williams long-range shot and Patchell missing an open goal after a TJ Reagan shot rebounded off Blake and to him 18 yards out.

After that things settled down, two Gillis long-range shots were all the Blue Blazes could muster in the last 10 minutes as the Scots saw the game out for a 2-1 victory.

“I think the boys did well, because at that point once we had that second goal Westbrook kind of played high pressure,” Robertson said. So I think the boys stayed kind of composed just trying to keep the ball down at their end of the field.”

For a team with just three seniors on the roster, Robertson said he’s been pleased with the way his young Scots, have been developing as the season has progressed.

“Our work ethic has needed to increase as the season’s gone along, and the kids that are younger are stepping up as leaders and pushing all of the age groups,” he said. “As we’re moving through the season I think they’re working harder and we’re progressively getting better.”

On the other side the frustrating loss drops Westbrook to 0-7-1. With games against defending state champions Windham, perennial powers Scarborough and steadily improving Kennebunk left on the schedule, it doesn’t get much easier from here on out.

“I think the score lines have certainly been improving,” Morgan said. “I can’t complain about my players work ethic and effort.”

Bonny Eagle’s TJ Reagan readies to cut back against Westbrook midfielder Darren Brown in the Blue Blazes’ defensive half late in the first half.
Westbrook forward Owen Gillis takes a shot early in the first half inside the Bonny Eagle box. The shot resulted in Westbrook’s lone goal as the Blue Blazes fell to the Scots 2-1.
Westbrook midfielder Luther Williams tries to cut back against Bonny Eagle defender Kyle Labrecque early in the first half.