For much of this season, the Concord boys’ soccer team has been searching for some consistency.
Every big win for the Tide to date has been greeted with an unfavorable result the next time out, and in a division loaded with talented teams, head coach Scott Dunlop knows its now or never for his squad to make a push.
After Tuesday’s 2-1 home victory over Portsmouth, Dunlop finally feels like the Tide is headed down the right path.
“It’s been inconsistent at times, but last week we had a solid performance in two games that we split (5-1 win over Windham; 2-1 loss to Hanover) and today we came out really good. We seem to be moving in the right direction,” Dunlop said.
Concord’s attack was also moving fast against the Clippers as the scoring came early for the Tide, which scored two first-half goals – all the offense it would need – in the win. Senior attack Pascal Zabayo was responsible for both scores, generating the first off a feed from junior back Brandon Comire in the seventh minute.
Two minutes later, Zabayo was at it again, this time taking a pass from junior Brady Rice and scoring on a breakaway opportunity for the 2-0 advantage.
Concord, which outshot Portsmouth, 6-5, and had seven more corners in the contest, was in a good spot for much of the game, largely thanks to the efforts of freshman defender Nick DiBuono, sophomore midfielder Alejo Caceres and senior keeper Abbas Abdulrahman, who came up with three saves.
But Portsmouth did break through for a goal in the 48th minute when Abdulrahman made a save that kicked back out to the Clippers.
From there, it was a matter of holding on.
“We had to fight and claw to get this game,” Dunlop said.
Concord (4-4-1) has now gone 3-1-1 since opening the season with losses in three of its first four games and is right in the middle of the pack in Division I after nine games.
But now comes the real test as Concord tries to continue its momentum.
The Tide will visit defending champion Bedford (8-0-1) on Thursday before hosting Manchester Central, the runner-up in each of the past two seasons, on Oct. 8.
“We’ve played really well against some top competition, especially last week against Windham and Hanover,” Dunlop said. “We have a tough road ahead with games against Bedford and Central back-to-back. Those are two of the favorites in Division I and we’re going to find out what we’re made of in those games.”
Merrimack Valley 3, Stevens 1
Key players: Merrimack Valley – Logan Cassin (G), Coby Mercier (G), Jack Davis (G), Griffin Wheeler (2A)
Highlights: Cassin scored with 10 seconds to play in the first half on a long range shot in the upper ninety. Merrimack Valley continued to possess the ball very well but Stevens fought back and was able to get a goal back to tie it up. Davis took a shot from outside that the keeper was unable to see and snuck it past him before Mercier scored the final goal with about eight minutes to play to put things out of reach.
Coach’s quote: “We did a good job of possessing the ball but we need to continue working on limiting our mistakes. Our defense played really well tonight and continues to come together.” – MV’s Ken Fuller
Records: Merrimack Valley 7-3; Stevens 3-6
Bishop Brady 5, Raymond 1
Key players: Bishop Brady – Logan Hannigan (2G), Jack Lyons (2G), Evan Haas (G), Miles Lavoie (3A), Ariel Okindedo (A), Jon Scrivens (A), Liam Masner (5 saves)
Highlights: Bishop Brady seniors Hannigan and Lyons each had two goals and sophomore Haas added one as the Giants defeated Raymond.
Coach’s quote: “The boys are really working off of some positive chemistry lately and doing a nice job of sharing the wealth in both assists and goals with various players contributing. Our defensive unit is consistent and doing a great job of minimizing our opponents chances.” – Brady’s Mike Ling
Records: Bishop Brady 5-3; Raymond 4-6
Hopkinton 5, Conant 1
Key players: Hopkinton – Derek West (G, 2A), Kevin Newton-Delgado (3G), Andrew Beckwith (2A), Shea Dickson (G, A), Aidan Burns (3 saves); Conant – Scott Labrecque (G), Ssam Kalloch (9 saves)
Highlights: After giving up an against-the-run-of-play goal, the Hawks woke up and got the game back even less than a minute later. The second half was all about Newton-Delgado, who recorded a hat trick on three hardworking goals, including a nice shot to the corner, another score off a series of quick passes and a final tally on a breakaway that he headed in after it popped into the air.
Coach’s quote: “As Conant kept 10 or 11 guys behind the ball for much of the first half, we started to get a bit frustrated and lazy about our shot selection. After a pep talk at halftime, however, we came out and played some of our best soccer of the season.” – Hopkinton’s Scott Zipke
Records: Hopkinton 8-2; Conant 2-7
Belmont 2, Derryfield 0
Key players: Belmont – Nate Sottak (G), Lucas Mathieu (G), Jacobb Bivens (6 saves), Lars Major (defense), Devin Bricknell (defense)
Highlights: The Raiders generated a 2-0 lead at the half and made it stick thanks to solid play on both sides of the ball throughout the game.
Coach’s quote: “Great effort by everyone tonight to get back on the winning side. Excellent team play for the win.” – Belmont’s Michael Foley
Records: Belmont 7-2; Derryfield 3-4-1
Mascenic 9, H-D 1
Key players: H-D –Joel Gould (1st varsity goal), Evan Winters (A)
Coach’s quote: “Major upset loss, 9-1. Not jiving as a team today.” – H-D’s Glenn Winters
Records: H-D 4-4; Mascenic 8-1
Portsmouth 94, Milford 86,
Coe-Brown 80
Key players: Coe-Brown – Cole Perra (17 points), Aidan Perra (16), Dan Strum (16), Alex Davidson (16), Evan Menard (15), Will Moelhmann (15)
Records: Coe-Brown 2-21
Fall Mountain 51, Belmont 47, Prospect Mountain 44,
John Stark 37
Key players: Belmont – Will Robarge (18 points); Stark – Jacob Greene (13 points), Kolby Spiers (11), Cody Ugarte (7), Nick Lundeen (7)
Coach’s quote: “Great last match today for seniors Paige Irving and Will Robarge, who helped the team pick up two wins.” – Belmont’s Kevin Charleston
“Spiers made an awesome birdie on the fifth hole and backed it up with a 15-foot par save on the sixth.” – Stark’s Matthew Caputo
Sanborn 61, Con-Val 42, Kearsarge 36, Monadnock 17
Key players: Kearsarge – Jake LaBelle (14 points); Sanborn – Patrick Sullivan (22 points, medalist)
Hopkinton 67, Mascenic 53, Newport 1
Key players: Hopkinton – Dan Miner (19 points), Colby Marshall (17 points), Kody Dexter (16 points), Andrew Fairneny (15 points)
Highlights: For the second day in a row Hopkinton took on a two-loss team (Mascenic) and came away with a victory. Marshall scored 17 points at Shattuck to help pace the Hawks. Freshman Hal Stokes also scored 12 points, which was a personal best.
Coach’s quote: “The team keeps improving and scored 17 points more at Shattuck than they did last season. Marshall and Fairneny’s scores are proving to be the difference in the matches.” – Hopkinton’s Dave Chase
Records: Hopkinton 16-2; Mascenic 15-3; Newport 0-18