LISBON — The first half became a field of frustration for two skilled and highly motivated boys soccer teams Wednesday.
There were numerous battles in front of both nets, direct kicks, corners and impressive headers, but something had to break in the second half. It did, for Mt. Abram, which shook off tenacious Lisbon to earn a 2-1 victory in a showdown of two of the top teams in Class C South.
Set-up man Kaden Pillsbury lent a helping hand in both of the Roadrunners’ goals, which were scored by sophomore Charlie Pye at 17:52 and 34:10 in the second half.
“(I was just) making my runs and working hard,” said Pye, who gave a lot of credit for his goals to his teammates. “We all put in the effort, so it wasn’t really anything I particularly did. It was just good team work.
“Lisbon is definitely doing good this season, (with) a win over Monmouth, which is cool. I want to play (Lisbon) again.”
Pillsbury slipped both passes to Pye that resulted in goals.
“I saw him running through the middle, and that’s where I put it,” Pillsbury said. “It is awesome beating a tough team. It feels great coming back, fought hard.”
Elijah Fullerton scored Lisbon’s goal off a Hunter Brissette assist 6:43 into the second half to break a scoreless tie.
“We went down 1-0, which we have not experienced this year,” Mt. Abram coach Darren Allen said. “I just told the guys, ‘Don’t panic. Get your heads up. It is OK’ — and we didn’t panic.
“Actually, we started playing our passing game — short balls, hitting the creases, just playing the feet, communicating — and we started opening up and getting chances. I told the boys, ‘You know, it is all between the ears. It is not physical ability sometimes; it is our mental ability.’”
The Roadrunners improve to 8-0-1 and sit atop the C South Heal point standings, while the Greyhounds fall to 9-2 and are in third place behind Waynflete.
“It was a good game,” Lisbon coach Shawn Rhoda said. “Coming off two big emotional wins over Hall-Dale and Monmouth, it is hard to keep that momentum going, especially against (Mt. Abram). They are good.
“(The Roadrunners) are good team, but I am proud of the way (our players) played, how they hung in there. Our goal was to score first, and we did that. It is hard to keep a good team down sometimes, but. … We get to see them again in the MVC championships, so we will try to prepare.”
The statistics verify that it was indeed an evenly matched game. Mt. Abram goalie Ian Allen and Lisbon net-minder Sean Moore each made nine saves. The Greyhounds outshot the Roadrunners, 10-9, but Mt. Abram had the upper-hand in corners, 5-3.
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