LACONIA – It wasn’t exactly an inspiring end to the regular season for the Belmont boys’ soccer team. They lost three of their last five, were shutout twice and now had to open the Division III tournament at a neutral site due to sloppy field conditions at the high school.
The door was open for a disappointing end to the year.
Instead, the eighth-seeded Raiders put together 80 minutes of the best soccer they’ve played all season, running circles around the No. 9 Mascoma Valley Royals in a 5-0 shutout win Thursday on the turf at Laconia High School.
“What we said in the huddle after the game was that it was textbook soccer,” Belmont Coach Michael Foley said. “We went 2-3 our last five games and had a hard time scoring. We just didn’t play the way we were trying to play and we’ve been able to work through a lot of those little things and guys were able to contribute today so it’s good stuff.”
It was clear from the opening whistle that Belmont left any offensive struggles it may have had behind.
The Raiders attacked Mascoma nonstop, from freshman Lucas Mathieu’s goal in the 16th minute all the way down to his brother, River, blasting home a direct kick from 20 yards out late in the second half, the contest was all Belmont.
And now the Raiders will have a chance to really make a statement when they visit top-seeded Derryfield in Sunday’s quarterfinal round.
“I mean we came out pretty strong, going to every ball as hard as we could, making great runs to the wings and distributing the ball to the middle. That’s all we needed to finish,” said Lucas Mathieu, who added an assist to go along with his goal.
“It was all about the team today because we had been losing quite a bit, we lost our heads a little, and then we kind of got it back together for this win so it’s onto Derryfield and that’s all that matters.”
Lucas Mathieu put the Raiders on the board first, turning Nolan Gagnon’s corner into a 1-0 lead with a lofted shot over Mascoma Valley keeper Hunter Whyte’s head. Mathieu then helped ignite Belmont’s second score eight minutes later when Griffin Embree passed it over to the wing for Mathieu, who sent a perfect cross over to Evan Cochran for a wide-open score.
“The first one was a great corner by Nolan,” Mathieu said. “I told him to keep it low. I knew the defender was cheating me a little bit so I kind of ran around him. Nolan placed the ball perfectly and I just kind of wrapped around, hit it with my toe and it went in.
“The second goal was built up from the defense,” he added. “Embree passed me the ball on the wing and I saw Evan and looked up and just passed it and he was there. Team effort all around right there.”
Thanks to some savvy defense from Belmont’s back line, including clear after clear from Caleb Burke and Dylan Greer, that two-goal lead would have been enough to hold up on its own.
Mascoma failed to generate any corners and put one shot on goal all game – a ball snuffed out nicely by Belmont keeper Jake Deware.
“You can tell they are well coached,” Mascoma Valley Coach Ryan Limero said. “They were just quicker than us. They were a little bit faster than us and I think it took us a little bit of time to catch up to their speed. But by the time that happened, it was 2-0 so they’re just a really good team.”
Nothing changed for the Raiders in the second half.
Embree made it 3-0 when he stung one low and inside the far post on a direct kick from 15 yards out, Hunter Dupuis collected an easy one a few minutes later, and River Mathieu capped things off with the prettiest goal of the night – a direct kick placed precisely into the top left corner.
“(Mascoma’s two center backs are outstanding. They’re big, they’re strong and they clean up everything,” Foley said. “But we were able to kind of get in around the outside and had some solid looks, obviously.”
The quarterfinal matchup against Derryfield will be a rematch of a tight regular-season contest on Sept. 8. The Raiders carved out a 2-0 lead, but Derryfield exploded for three unanswered goals to snatch away the victory.
“We know them well. We like to think we had them right where we wanted them early in the season, but we were young at the beginning of the year, made some young mistakes and we paid the price for that,” Foley said. “You can’t let them run at you the way they are capable of running the whole game so we’ll see what Sunday brings.”
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)
No. 2 Souhegan 3, No. 15 Coe-Brown 0
Key players: Coe-Brown – Kiley St. Francis (midfield), Amelia Brackett (defense), Emily van Gerena (9 saves)
Highlights/key moments: While the Bears kept the second-seeded Sabers at bay in the first half, they couldn’t stop Souhegan for a full 80 minutes in this first-round matchup. The Sabers led 1-0 at the halftime and added on two more scores in the second half to take control.
Coach’s quote: “We grew so much this season, and being so young and making the tournament was one of our goals for the season. I’m very proud of how we played all season long.” – Coe-Brown’s Josh Hils
Records: Souhegan 13-1-2; Coe-Brown 5-10-2
No. 3 Milford 1, No. 14 Pembroke 0
Key players: Pembroke – Vickey Mudgett (goalkeeper), Courtney Jacques (defense), Delanie St. Lauren, Danielle Parent
Highlights/key moments: One shot was the difference-maker in this one for the Spartans, who played a top-three seed tough in the first round but couldn’t find the equalizer.
Coach’s quote: “It’s so sad to see a season end, particularly with this group of girls that’s come so far together. I’ll miss each afternoon with them, their work ethic and their spirit.” – Pembroke’s Jess Croft
Records: Pembroke 7-10; Milford 14-2-1
No. 6 Concord 3, No. 11 Timberlane 0
Key players: Concord – Abby Rochette (25 assists), Maria Wimpey (11 kills), Mia Harmon (7 kills), Quinn Daniels (7 kills), Brenna Vandersea (15 digs)
Highlights/key moments: The Tide opened up its hopeful postseason run with a commanding win in three sets. Concord won, 25-19, 25-14 and 25-22 to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals against No. 3 Bishop Guertin.
Coach’s quote: “Although there are players with decent statistics listed, this season has been about contributions from all 12 players who work hard everyday to make each other better.” – Concord’s Jonathan Flower
Records: Concord 15-4; Timberlane 7-12
No. 8 Moultonborough 3, No. 9 Pittsfield 2
Key players: Pittsfield – Arianna Cyr (14 digs, 14 kills), Abigial Smith (17 digs, 10 assists, 2 aces), Emma Smith (19 digs, 9 kills, 3 aces)
Highlights/key moments: The two sides put up exactly the match expected between similar seeds in the first round. Pittsfield sandwiched a 25-17 win in the second set around two losses in sets one and three before running away with game four. Moultonborough caught fire in the fifth set on the way to a 15-8 win.
Coach’s quote: “The girls went in with high hopes and a great attitude. They played their best game of the season taking the defending champs to five sets. … It’s been the best season I’ve seen in the 16 years I’ve been at the school.” – Pittsfield’s Paul Strickhart
Records: Pittsfield 8-9; Moultonborough 12-5
No. 11 Belmont 3, No. 6 Mascenic 2
Highlights/key moments: The Raiders completed the lone upset of the first round, taking advantage of a season-high 17 Mascenic service errors to win in five sets. The Raiders went up 2-0 on the night before allowing Mascenic back in it and stunned the Vikings in the fifth set by scoring the game’s final four points to win, 16-14. Belmont takes on No. 3 Campbell in the quarterfinal round on Saturday.
Records: Belmont 9-8; Mascenic 10-6
No. 5 Newfound 3, No. 12 Sunapee 1
Highlights/key moments: The Bears held tough on their home floor as the two sides traded wins in the first three sets. Newfound claimed the first set, 25-17, and put its postseason victory on ice with a 25-22 victory in the fourth set. Newfound gets No. 4 Farmington next in the quarterfinals.
Records: Newfound 12-5; Sunapee 8-9