Pen Bay U14 splits games in Hampden tourney
Pen Bay's Richard Vokey, right, beats a Maranacook defender to the ball. Maranacook won 4-3. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Perrin Bonner-Ganter, right, races fro a loose ball as Zach Davis follows the play from behind. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Simon Morin is set to defend as he looks to get the ball from a Maranacook player. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Kieran Lydon, left, gies the ball a ride as a Waterville defender approaches. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Maddison Jordan battles with a Waterville player for possession of the ball. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Will Davee battles with a Waterville defender for the ball as Colby Arau looks on. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Morgan Ford wins a 50/50 ball from a Waterville player. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Colby Arau beats everyone to the ball during the game with Waterville. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Richard Vokey, right, beats a Maranacook defender to the ball. Maranacook won 4-3. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Perrin Bonner-Ganter, right, races fro a loose ball as Zach Davis follows the play from behind. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Simon Morin is set to defend as he looks to get the ball from a Maranacook player. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Kieran Lydon, left, gies the ball a ride as a Waterville defender approaches. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Maddison Jordan battles with a Waterville player for possession of the ball. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Will Davee battles with a Waterville defender for the ball as Colby Arau looks on. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Morgan Ford wins a 50/50 ball from a Waterville player. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
Pen Bay's Colby Arau beats everyone to the ball during the game with Waterville. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Jordan)
HAMPDEN – The Pen Bay U14 boys soccer team participated in a U14 tournament at Hampden this past weekend where they split games losing the first and winning the second.
Game 1
MARANACOOK 4, PEN BAY 3… The U-14 boy teams from Maranacook and Penbay faced each other Sunday in a match hosted by Hampden in the North District Tournament. Traditionally, these teams play close, physical games decided by a goal, and today was no exception.
Seven minutes into the game Simon Morin crossed a ball to the eight yards in front of the goal to Morgan Mercier. Mercier controlled the pass, stepped around a defender and put it by the keeper to start the scoring.
A short while later Maranacook’s Max McQuillen sent in a corner kick that went in off a deflection to tie the score. At the half the score was 1-1.
The pace of the game was fast with both team counterattacking upon gaining control of the ball.
Twenty minutes into the half Morin and Mercier duplicated the effort of the first half with Mercier once again scoring off the feed. A minute later Max McQuillen countered with his and Maranacook’s second goal.
Twenty Five minutes into the second half Maranacook committed a foul 35 yards from the goal. Richard Vokey took the direct kick and sent it high over the keeper and under the cross bar for third Penbay goal.
With five minutes remaining Maranacook's Sam Wilkinson knotted the score on a shot from in the box. Then, with one minute reaming Nathan Delimar sent an extremely hard shot into the top of the net from 30 yards giving Maranacook its first lead of the match. Penbay was unable to score in the last minute and Maranacook won 4-3.
Justin Freeman played strong in the net and Hayden Elwell was a force leading the defense for Maranacook.
Maddison Jordan and Connor Davis shared keeper duties for Penbay.
Game 2
PEN BAY 4, WATERVILLE NOVAS 3… The Waterville Novas faced off against the Penbay boys in a U-14 tournament game at Hampden on Sunday. It was the second game of the day for both teams, and the Novas only had 11 players.
Six minutes into the contest James Kouletis hit a hard and low shot into the corner by the Penbay keeper. The game remained fairly even for the next 15 minutes with both teams charging up and down the pitch, but unable to convert. The defenses stiffened at 18 to 20 yards from the goal, and clear shots at goal were not available.
Twenty three minutes into the contest Colby Arau sent a through pass to open space which Kieran Lydon collected and took to the goal. Lydon angled a shot by the keeper from the right which scraped the left post and went in to tie the score.
Three minutes later Lydon took a pass from midfield and outran the defense, he turned by the 18 and lofted the ball over the keeper into the top left corner. That was the scoring for the first half.
The tempo slowed in the second half. Both teams were tired and concentrated on possession and showed some precision passing. The battles were primarily between the 18 yard lines until 15 minutes in when Morgan Mercier stole the ball, dribbled into the box and scored unassisted.
Five minutes later Richard Vokey sent a nice pass up the side to Zac Collins. After side-stepping a defender Collins drove it hard into the net for the fourth goal for Penbay. Penbay continued to put pressure on the keeper, Jackson Aldrich, but Aldrich was equal to the challenge. He ventured far out in the box several times thwarting potential breakaways by beating the Penbay forwards to the ball. For the match Aldrich made 16 saves on 27 shots.
When Waterville attacked the Penbay defense, led by Maddison Jordan, Perrin Bonner-Ganter, Morgan Ford and Richard Vokey took control of the ball and started the counter attack. Connor Davis also made several quality saves on high and low shots from Waterville. Davis made 13 save on 18 shots.
Penbay plays the host Hampden Broncos in the final game of the tournament at noon on October 27.
PenBayPilot sports reporter /photographer Ron Hawkes can be reached at ronhawkes@penbaypilot.com; or by phone at 207-956-0079 (home office) 975-2311 (cell)
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