SOUTH BERWICK — Saturday’s Class A South boys soccer preliminary round clash between the No. 10 Sanford Spartans and No. 7 Marshwood Hawks was all about defense.
The visiting Spartans’ defense had to step up throughout the game to keep Sanford within striking distance, while the Hawks’ D had a pretty relaxing afternoon thanks to Marshwood’s offense controlling possession for most of the contest.
Marshwood held Sanford to just two shots on net as the Hawks made a first-half goal stand up in a 1-0 victory.
“We only had two shots on net according to the stats and when you only shoot two times and don’t test the goalie, your chances are not that good,” said Sanford coach Tim Fecteau.
Marshwood coach Ben Deschene was happy with his team’s defensive effort.
“I thought we did a good job defensively with not giving them much space,” said Deschene, who has seen his team’s defense improve immensely late in the season. “There was a couple games midway through (the season) where we had given up three or four goals and it was something that, obviously, we weren’t happy about. The second half of the season has been dedicated defensively just to getting better and I think we have gotten better and today I was really happy with the results.”
Sam Fitzgerald would provide the gamewinner for the Hawks as he used assists from Henry Honkonen and Aidan Knowles and beat the Sanford keeper to make it 1-0 in the first half.
The Hawks (9-4-2) had plenty of chances to add to their lead throughout the rest of the contest, but the Sanford defense was able to keep it a 1-goal game.
“Defense has always been our strong point. We have a hell of a defense. They are young and I’m looking forward to seeing these guys the next couple years,” said Fecteau, who saw his goalie, Garrett Gallant, make seven saves on Saturday.
Deschene knows his team will have to capitalize on scoring chances when the Hawks face No. 2 Falmouth (11-2-1) in a quarterfinal showdown on Tuesday.
“It will be much more important (to finish opportunities) because we may not get as many opportunities against Falmouth, so we will really have to put away the opportunities we do get,” said Deschene.
The Marshwood coach believes his defense could be key if the Hawks are going to advance in the Class A South playoffs.
“I do like how our defense is playing better than it was earlier in the season when we played Falmouth. I really think your team starts with your defense and I thought today we were intense, we won our 50-50 balls and we were the aggressor,” Deschene said.
The Spartans, who finished the season with a 6-8-1 record, will have to replace 12 seniors from this year’s squad.
“The senior group, 12 seniors this year, they came with a passion and a desire,” said Fecteau, who was proud of his seniors’ progression over the past few years. “You have to keep working hard. You can’t have things just given to you and I think they learned from that and they saw the reward from all the hard work that they put in.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.