The Lawrence boys soccer team scored early and often in its Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A season opener against Bangor on Friday.

The Rams, who are deep and have plenty of experience, fought back to earn a 5-5 tie in a game that sets the tone for the rest of the season.

“We knew they would make a run at us,” Lawrence coach Bob Towne said. “They have a big team and they just kept running at us.”

Drew Bois and Matt Saunders each scored twice for Lawrence, which at one point lead 4-0.

“We are young and have kids who were playing in their first varsity game,” Towne said. “The game was a motivational success for us. The players realize we could have won but are happy they managed a tie, now we need to play the full 80 minutes.”

Among the things Lawrence can take away from the game is it knows it can score against one of the top defensive teams in the conference. Bangor goalie Liam Harrigan recorded nine shutouts in the regular season last fall and the Rams allowed just eight goals, three in a 3-1 loss to Lawrence.

“We scored on the inside and hit a long one,” Towne said. “As a team, we came away knowing we can play with the better teams in the conference.”

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The Mt. Blue girls soccer team still doesn’t have a home field, with construction continuing at the high school.

This fall, the Mt. Blue girls will play four home games at Mt. Blue Middle School, two at Prescott Field (home of the University of Maine at Farmington) and one at Hippach Field.

“In many ways it is like not having a home field,” said Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue, who held preseason practices at the middle school. “We haven’t practiced at UMF at all.”

In their season opener, Gabby Foy and Thia Bridges split time in goal as the Cougars beat Cony 2-0. Bridges made 10 saves, while Foy had five. Bridges stopped a couple of breakaways.

“Cony had some good chances to score,” Conlogue said. “We gave up a lot of shots but our keepers and defense played well.”

“Both our keepers have strengths. Thia is good on low balls, while Gabby is good on high balls.”

The Cougars play three games, all on the road, over the next 10 days, traveling to Messalonskee, Skowhegan and Erskine Academy.

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The Messalonskee boys, who played for the Class A state title last fall, were stunned in their season opener, losing to Hampden Academy 6-1.

“We had some issues we need to address,” Messalonskee coach Tom Sheridan said. “We are looking forward to this week and getting back on track.”

The Eagles lost some talented players to graduation from the Eastern A title winning team, including Morning Sentinel Boys Soccer Player of the Year Chris Hall, goalie Zach Sutherland and forward Nate DelGiudice. Messalonskee also lost junior Wyatt Omsberg, who is playing at Scarborough High School this fall.

Messalonskee had to play much of the Hampden game short-handed as well, due to a red card 20 minutes into the game.

“It was one of those games where things didn’t go our way,” Sheridan said. “The early red card put us down a player and we knew at the beginning of the year we would be young and learning on the fly.”

The Eagles have two games this week, against Mt. Blue in Farmington on Tuesday and at Skowhegan on Friday.

“We’ll see who shows up for us,” Sheridan said. “I’m sure we have the kind of players and team that will respond.”

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Three of the five new soccer coaches in central Maine garnered wins in their first games.

At Maine Central Institute, Carl Jones and the girls team beat Mt. View 6-0. Gary Sinclair’s Nokomis girls team beat Belfast 4-1 and Aaron Wolfe led the Winslow boys to a 5-2 win over Leavitt.

The Nokomis boys, led by Ryan Middleswart, lost to Belfast 2-0, while Silas Bell’s Carrabec girls team lost to Wiscasset 4-1.