FARMINGDALE — Few teams can protect a lead like Hall-Dale, so there is never a good time to fall behind the Bulldogs.

Falling behind them on their home field, during the playoffs, when your best scorer isn’t at full speed would qualify as an especially bad time to face a deficit against the Bulldogs.

Ryan Sinclair scored 9 minutes, 45 seconds into Tuesday’s Western Class C quarterfinal and Nat Crocker added two more goals as No. 3 Hall-Dale never trailed in a 3-1 win over sixth-seeded Monmouth.

Hall-Dale (14-1-0) advances to the semifinals, where it will face No. 2 Mountain Valley.

“The win from our Mountain Valley Conference championship definitely carried over to this game,” said Crocker, referring to Hall-Dale’s win over Mountain Valley in the fourth round of penalty kicks on Saturday. “We’re a lot more comfortable on our field, and we all brought our mojo, as we like to say.”

“They did a great job controlling the middle of the field,” Monmouth coach Joe Fletcher said. “I tip my cap to them.”

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Sinclair struck off a nice feed from Tyler Dubois that left Monmouth keeper Kasey Smith (16 saves) with little choice but to try to challenge the junior forward near the top of the penalty box. Sinclair easily beat him to his left.

“In the first 10 minutes, that’s always big,” Sinclair said. “It was a good ball from Tyler, just perfectly placed between the last defender and the goalie.”

“It’s key to our system. Once we get the lead, it’s very hard to come back and score against us,” Hall-Dale coach Andrew Haskell said.

It was made especially difficult for Monmouth (11-5-0) with sophomore Hunter Richardson being shadowed by junior midfielder Nate Mills for much of the game. On top of that, Richardson was limited by a deep thigh bruise from about midway through the first half.

“Mills brings us a sense of toughness,” Haskell said. “We had a kid last year, Steve Longfellow, who was a tough back, and Nate’s a super athlete. He’s very defensive-minded and that’s a key when you can take a player that’s willing to sacrifice his game.”

Crocker made it 2-0 after he was tripped in the  box and given a penalty shot with 5:43 left in the first half. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, minimized the Mustangs’ chances, although goalkeeper Brian Allen (eight saves) made a nice leaping stop on an Avery Pomerleau bid.

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Richardson sat out for more than six minutes early in the second half but got the Mustangs on the board shortly after returning to the pitch, punching home a Chandler Harris’ direct kick to cut the deficit in half with 24:13 remaining.

Monmouth controlled the ball for much of the final 20 minutes but Hall-Dale had most of the quality chances. One shot ricochetted high off the left post in the 26th minute and Crocker just missed wide right trying to redirect a direct kick with a little over 10 minutes left.

Crocker finally broke through with his second insurance goal with 7:11 remaining.

“Two-nothing is always the hardest lead to keep, because once they score one, they have the momentum,” Crocker said. “Once that goal went in, their momentum was done and we just carried it through to the end of the game.”

“We’re playing our best soccer and this is the best time of year to be playing our best soccer,” Haskell said.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33


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