Monmouth’s Kyle Fletcher made one quick move and was around a defender and in alone. All that stood between the Mustang sniper and the tying goal was Lisbon’s freshman keeper Nate Bergeron.

“You’re supposed to shuffle up and cut off the angles,” said Bergeron. “All I had was a foot right then. It was a quick shot.”

Bergeron made the crucial save. Minutes later, Lisbon doubled the lead. That held up for a 2-0 win over the Mustangs in a Western C boys’ soccer preliminary. The eighth-ranked Greyhounds (6-8-1) advance to next Wednesday’s quarterfinal against top-ranked Hall-Dale.

“I thought we possessed the ball very well today,” said Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester. “I was impressed. It’s something we’ve been working on. We established our short game again. I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Aaron Halls and Brady Fenderson had goals for the Greyhounds. Austin Bedford set up the first goal.

“We had a lot of emotion today,” said Sylvester, whose team lost to Hall-Dale 8-0 earlier in the year. “Our exchange student had to go back to Brazil. So the kids were riding off quite a bit of emotion. Austin’s was the host family. So he was like a brother to him. He wore his jersey today. So it was nice to see Austin be part of that first goal.”

Monmouth (4-8-3) had the bid by Fletcher early in the second half and another another Fletcher shot hit the crossbar, but the Mustangs just couldn’t rally.

“They capitalized on their opportunities and we didn’t,” said Monmouth coach Joe Fletcher, whose team tied the Greyhounds 1-1 to open the regular season. “We had chances. Kyle had a breakaway and didn’t score. We had a couple of other chances in the second half, and we didn’t score. That’s been the story of our season.”

Both teams had chances in the first half. Lisbon had a goal waived off midway through the half because of an offsides call. Monmouth had a corner kick bounce in front and get redirected. Lisbon’s Dillon Clifford cleared it from an open corner of the goal.

Then with 2:28 left in the half, Lisbon got the first goal. Halls already had a rush moment earlier, but his shot went wide. His second chance didn’t miss. Bedford put a ball forward on the left side. Halls had a try and found the far corner.

“It was a similar play as before,” said Halls. “Austin put it to me, and I tried my best to get the shot. I wouldn’t have gotten that goal without him.”

Monmouth had their best chance early in the second half when Fletcher got by a defender and had the open look. Bergeron kicked it aside with a nifty flash of his leg.

“I knew it was going to be one-on-one,” said Bergeron. “He’s fast. I was surprised he took the shot as early as he did. I thought he could have taken a few more steps, but I’m happy with what I did.”

Lisbon had defenders Jake Angelico and Elliot Manocal shadowing Fletcher for most of the game. Both did a nice job limiting his opportunities.

“We just couldn’t seem to put two or three passes together,” said Fletcher. “I give Dan (Sylvester) credit. He prepared his team. They played well. They played hard and they played physical, and we didn’t respond to their physicality.”

Lisbon got the second goal with 30:17 left in the second half. Fenderson’s free kick from inside midfield went off a defenders head and then off the hands of Monmouth keeper Casey Smith.

Monmouth pressed to mount a comeback. Its best chance came on the Fletcher shot that hit the crossbar, but Lisbon cleared it.

“It feels pretty good,” said Halls of the win. “I think we kind of had something to prove. I think today, we proved we could hang with anybody.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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