WINSLOW — Unbeaten Maranacook played a solid defensive game to post a 2-0 win over Winslow in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B boys soccer game Saturday afternoon.
Maranacook improves to 9-0-0 while Winslow suffers its first loss of the season at 7-1-2.
Winslow, averaging four goals a game, managed just seven shots against a defense designed to stop high scoring forward Gabe Smith, who has 22 goals this season. The Black Bears assigned the difficult task to Taylor Wilbur, who succeeded in keeping Smith off the scoreboard.
“My job was to stay with Gabe, wherever he went,” Wilbur said. “I wasn’t supposed to go after any balls or passes, just stay with him and keep him away from the ball.”
Wilbur played a near perfect game while getting help from his defensive teammates in the back. Chris Beckwith, Cory McSweeney, Zach Elwell and sweeper back Nick Lacasse surrounded Smith when the ball was sent in his direction.
The talented Black Raider forward did manage to unleash a pair of shots on target that were handled by goalkeeper AJ Freeman.
“We really haven’t played that well defensively this year,” Lacasse said. “We’ve got a long way to go, but this was a big game and it was a good start to help us get better.”
After a scoreless first half that saw Maranacook out shoot Winslow 7-2, the Black Bears continued their offensive pace, scoring one minute and 33 seconds into the second half. Kent Mohlar sent a ball into the box from the right side, Alex Tooth took the ball off his chest and volleyed a hard shot into the right side of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
It appeared Winslow would be able to generate an offensive threat when Maranacook was forced to play with 10-men when a Black Bear received a red card with 31:40 left in the game. But the Black Raiders failed to generate an opportunity against Maranacook’s tenacious defense.
Continuing to push forward, Maranacook produced a corner on the right side which Erling Vingelsgaard hit to the near post for Sam Nielsen to head into the right side for a 2-0 lead with 6:16 left in the game.
Winslow goalkeeper Alex Berard finished the game with seven saves while Freeman registered four.
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