MONMOUTH — It was a bittersweet victory on Monday afternoon for the Monmouth Academy boys’ soccer team.
They defeated rival Lisbon 2-0 to finish the regular season with a 12-0-2 record and look to be a top seed in the Class C South playoffs. When they take the pitch next week for their quarterfinal contest, they will be without one of their captains, Avery Pomerleau, as he recorded his third yellow card of the season. He will have to sit out the next countable match.
His yellow came 5:39 into the contest when he collided with a Greyhound player. The card didn’t come on a collision, but after Pomerleau was the first to get up and briefly hovered over the Lisbon player who was still on the ground. That’s when the near official blew his whistle and called Pomerleau for taunting.
“We are happy we came away with a win today,” Monmouth assistant coach Russ Neal said.
The Mustangs head coach Joe Fletcher was sitting out Monmouth’s senior game to serve a suspension of his own.
Monmouth does have one more game before the playoffs start — MVC Championship game on Thursday at Thomas College. Since the MVC Championship is considered a scrimmage and isn’t a MPA regular season or playoff game, Pomerleau’s one game suspension carries into the playoffs.
The Mustangs regrouped after the card and dominated the first half as they outshot the Greyhounds, 12-1. They outshot Lisbon, 17-5, for the game.
Pomerleau found the scoresheet when he blasted a shot past Lisbon keeper Jonah Sautter with 7:11 remaining in the first half.
“We kind of played our game and we did have the ball with the wind,” Pomerleau said. “We played the advantage of the conditions and stuff. We kind of played the game at the pace we played, which is fast. One touch, one pass and just played our game.”
That goal was his 31st goal of the season and he tied Kyle Fletcher’s career mark with 91 goals.
With under two minutes remaining in the opening half, Gabriel Martin put home the second goal as the initial shot hit the post but went right to Martin, who had an open net.
It was going to take the perfect game from Lisbon to pull off a victory.
“We are down our best player in Noah Austin, who’s out with a shoulder injury,” Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester said. “That definitely changed the dynamics a little bit. Our thought was to pack it in and see what happens.”
In the second half, Pomerleau looked to break the all-time school record, but Lisbon’s defense stood tall.
“I was playing to win, that’s the scoring nature I have in myself, I guess,” Pomerleau said. “Just go, go, go and try to have the best opportunity to score for the team.”
Sylvester took pride in his team’s efforts in the second half.
“We had a couple of mistakes and they capitalized on them, which good teams will do to you,” Sylvester said. “Hats off to my guys, we went 0-0 in the second half. My guys did what they could have done today and unfortunately we made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized on them.”
Bradley Neal only needed to make two saves for the clean sheet while Sautter made four saves for the Greyhounds (8-4-2).
Nick Austin received a yellow car for Lisbon in the second half.
nfournier@sunjournal.com
Monmouth’s Gabriel Martin and Monmouth’s Steve Martin face off during Monday afternoon’s soccer game at Monmouth Academy.Monmouth’s Gabriel Martin tumbles down on Lisbon’s Glenn Hill after attempting a header during Monday afternoon’s soccer game at Monmouth Academy.Monmouth’s Nicholas Dovinsky keeps the ball under control while being pursued by Lisbon’s Cam Poisson during Monday afternoon’s soccer game at Monmouth Academy.Lisbon’s Glenn Hill maneuvers the ball past Monmouth’s Corey Armstrong during Monday afternoon’s soccer game at Monmouth Academy.
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