KENNEBUNK — It was “two for one night”, Tuesday, at Veterans Memorial Field.
Or rather, two for none.
Thornton Academy and Kennebunk hooked up for a spirited, see-saw SMAA boys soccer encounter, but one that ultimately played out as a scoreless overtime draw.
Netminders Chris Roberts (Thornton) and John Burns (Kennebunk) presided over the double shutout, with each having been called on to make clutch, deadlock-preserving stops.
“There was a lot of action,” said Thornton’s Ryan Lambert, who was in the center of much of that action. “It was awesome.”
Kennebunk’s Harrison Hall agreed.
“It was a good battle,” Hall said. “The bounces didn’t go our way. We were unlucky.”
The Rams (0-1-1) owned the ball for large stretches of the first half, but had nothing to show for their efforts.
In the 22nd minute, Kennebunk’s Blake Dowe launched a 40 yard free kick that might have found space under the cross bar if Roberts hadn’t snagged it.
“We were fortunate to come out of the first half with a clean score sheet,” said Thornton (1-0-1) coach Andy Carlson. “We’re still finding out how to find a complete game.”
In the second half, Hall was in the middle of a pair of dangerous chances, one of them on a cross from Charlie Merry, that he couldn’t get much power behind.
The other was Hall’s set up of Robby Burns, whose 15 yarder in the 54th minute was absorbed by Roberts.
“We came out and played the game we wanted to play,” said Kennebunk coach Nate Bean, whose team has yet to score this year after two games. “We moved the ball well, we worked off the ball. Good things happened. We just have to finish.”
Thornton began to push back soon after, and generated a string of scoring chances.
The best of those came in the 74th minute, when Ryan Lambert blew past the Rams’ back line and cut hard to the net.
John Burns came out to cut down the angle, and Lambert, intending to pop the ball over him, put it over the crossbar instead.
“I ran past the defender,” said Lambert, “and tried to poke it over the goalie. I just hit it too hard. A little bit lighter, and I could have had it.”
Thornton had the best scoring chance of the overtime, when three minutes in, Lambert swung in a corner kick to Max Senechal, whose header was parried away by Burns.
Neither team threatened seriously after that.
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com or follow on Twitter @DanHickling.
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