FREEPORT

Throughout the boys high school soccer season, Freeport coach Joe Heathco has been looking for a spark, something that puts his Falcons over the top.

Unfortunately, following Thursday’s 2-0 Western Maine Conference loss to Greely at Hunter Road Fields, Heathco is still looking after his squad fell to 6-6 with a second loss this season to the Rangers (3-2 setback on Sept. 9).

“That is our thing. We can control play, but we have trouble stringing together good, clean opportunities,” said Heathco. “We need to focus on what we want to do, how we want to play. We are just not quite tough enough, and we don’t focus the whole 80. We are better than we play. That is really frustrating. We have to find a way to get that toughness.”

After a chippy first half that featured a yellow card and several hard fouls by both sides, Greely was the squad that refocused first, getting two goals in the first 8:05 of the frame.

“I asked the offense to give us two, and they did that,” said Greely (6-5-1) coach Matt Andreasen, who earned his 200th coaching win. “We had to make adjustments. That is what I like about this team. We were playing hard and getting chances, and they knew this was a big game. We had to have kids step up and they did.”

As the second half moved on, Freeport pushed back, receiving looks from Jake Dumont, Kaleb Barrett and Jesse Bennell.

“We had some looks, but nothing great,” remarked Heathco.

First half

Both teams had chances in the opening 40 minutes. Freeport’s Shea Wagner rose to get his head off a corner kick that had Rangers goaltender A.J. Eisenhart diving to his right in keeping the Falcons from striking in the game’s opening minute.

Shots by Bennell, Joe Ashby and Eriksen Shea were dangerous, while Greely’s Hazael Tshituka caused havoc on the offensive end.

As the half ticked down under 10 minutes, both teams seemed to ramp up the aggressiveness. Freeport received a yellow card, and each side was warned by the officials as the half came to a close, still scoreless.

Greely put home the game-winning goal just 1:41 into the second half. Silas Cunningham fed a pass toward the Freeport goal, with the ball somehow sneaking past the Falcons defense and onto the waiting foot of Tshituka, who didn’t miss, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

Greely kept coming, with Freeport netminder Atticus Patrick (seven saves) keeping a shot from Tshituka out of his goal.

Moments after a Rangers goal was waved off, the visitors doubled their lead when Brendan Carrell redirected a pass from Matt Kramlich past Patrick with 31:55 left on the clock.

“We played well in the first half, but when they scored it was tough,” said Barrett, a Freeport midfielder. “We tried to keep our heads in it as much as we could. We just didn’t score today, which is frustrating.”

“We talked after that the differences in a game like this are the little things,” said Heathco, whose Falcons host Poland on Saturday at 2 p.m. “Greely played good defense when they needed to and they scored those two goals.”

Freeport managed a handful of shots from there, the most dangerous coming from Dumont, who slipped past a pair of Greely defenders before firing a shot that rose just above the crossbar. However, the Greely defensive foursome of Michael Geary, Chris Theodores, Matt Strout and Evan Goettel did a solid job.

Eisenhart finished with 10 saves as Freeport held a slight 15-13 shot advantage.

Greely 2, Freeport 0

At Hunter Road Fields in Freeport

Greely		—	0	2	—	2
Freeport			— 0	0	—	0

Goals — (G) Hazael Tshituka, Brendan Carrell. Assists — (G) Silas Cunningham, Matt Kramlich. Shots — Freeport 15, Greely 13. Saves — (G) A.J. Eisenhart 10, (F) Atticus Patrick 7. Corner kicks — Greely 5, Freeport 2. Records — Greely 6-5-1, Freeport 6- 6. Up next for the Falcons — Saturday at home vs. Poland, 2 p.m.