AUBURN — With the playoffs a week away, the Leavitt boys’ soccer team was looking for a tough match against some tough competition in its final regular season game.
Tough is what they got.
The undefeated Maranacook Black Bears took care of business, attacking the Hornets with a 6-0 victory in boys’ Class B soccer action.
The Black Bears used six different scorers en route to the their 11th shutout of the season. They’ve allowed just two goals all year, while their six goals Tuesday give Maranacook (13-0-1) a total of 64 goals for the season.
Midway through the first half, Mitchell Root scored the first goal of the contest by picking up a loose ball heading it past Hornet goalie Lucas Perry. Max McQuillen followed seven minutes later with a score off a rebound.
Leavitt trailed 2-0 at the half, the score by which it lost to Maranacook earlier in the season. In their previous meeting, the Hornets only managed one shot on goal.
“I think we played better this time,” Leavitt coach Zac Conlgue said. “Last time, they beat us 2-0, but today we played hard and had some good chances.”
“This was still a good defensive effort by our boys,” Conlogue said. “We focus on defense and hopefully we will take that with us into the playoffs.”
Leavitt (4-7-3) only mustered four shots this time around, but will use the game’s experience to take with them into the playoffs. Maranacook controlled the mid field capturing most of the loose balls with Connor McSweeney and Nathan Delmar contributing in the effort.
Delmar quickly scored to open the second half, just :28-seconds in, picking up another loose rebound.
“They put away their chances and we didn’t, ” Conlogue said.
Maranacook continued its sleek passing, cutting through the Leavitt defense with short, compact passes leading to a pair of goals by Connor Stockwell and Dennis Chiappetta.
“We knew we’d be playing on a smaller field so we were ready to work on our direct game as we normally like to pass,” Maranacook coach Don Beckwith said.
“We’re not used to seeing a ton of shots so this was good for us,” added Beckwith.
Mathew Faulkner rounded out the scoring with a kick that bounced off both posts before rolling past goalie Jacob Koris. Koris finished with four saves in his limited time at the end of the second half. Perry stopped 14 shots in the losing effort.
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