WINTHROP — Brandon Smith scored all three of the Monmouth’s goals in a 3-1 win over St. Dominic 3-1 in a Class D South boys soccer semifinal Thursday on Charlie’s Field.
Second-seeded Monmouth (14-1-1) advances to face first-seeded Richmond (15-1) in the regional final Tuesday.
“To be honest, we expected to be here, and we expect a lot from this group, it’s a senior-laden team and we have real good leaders,” Monmouth coach Joe Fletcher said.
While Thursday’s game mostly played on Monmouth’s offensive side of the field, St. Dom’s (5-10-1) had the first goal, scored by Donel Tangilamesu on a header off a long free kick by Tim Ouellette at the 11-minute mark. After the goal, the Saints spent most of the game defending their half.
“We came into this game believing that we could beat this team, and I still think we could’ve beaten them,” said Saints coach Darine Gnidehoue. “To score that goal first, I think the boys believed it, but then there were a couple of things we probably could have done better to not give away that first and second goal. Unfortunately, we gave those away and that sort of changed the dynamic of the game.”
Monmouth started slow but gained momentum after their first goal, scored by Smith with 7:57 left in the first half. Smith scored after a long pass helped set up a one-on-one opportunity against St. Dom’s goalie Riley Daigle.
With 5:09 left in the first half, Smith scored his second goal, this one assisted by Patrick Strout.
“He’s a dynamic player,” Fletcher said of Smith. “He started off the year slow, but I think he is now at 30 goals this year, which is impressive. He’s a kid that works really hard and he’s very determined.”
Daigle saw a lot of action throughout the game for the Saints, coming up with six saves in the first half and seven in the second.
“Riley is incredible, it’s hard to believe that he’s just a sophomore,” Gnidehoue said. “I heard that this is only his second year of playing soccer. The sky’s the limit if he truly puts work into it, it’s incredible.”
In the second half, Monmouth almost scored on a header off a corner kick, but the goal was called off due to an offsides call with 29:30 left in the game.
Monmouth’s offense continued to attack, but Daigle continued to make saves, including smothering a 2-on-1 by Monmouth.
A few minutes later, Smith completed his hat trick on a free kick from outside 18-yard box to push the Mustangs’ lead to 3-1.
“We started off slow but picked it up (after) the boys talked at halftime,” Smith said. “We knew we had to step it up, and we didn’t give them many scoring opportunities in the second half, and we finished the game well.”
Despite the momentum being in the Mustangs’ favor, Smith and Fletcher credited the Saint’s fight till the end.
Both teams paid tribute to the Lewiston community after last week’s mass shooting, which killed 18 people and injured 13. Monmouth players wore “Lewiston Strong” T-shirts for a group picture after their win, which Harmon said was a team decision to pay their respects.
“It was a great game, they played tough,” Harmon said. “There’s a lot going on in their community right now, so we definitely respect that and we want to be as respectful as possible. That’s why we have the Lewiston Strong T-shirts on, and we’re just praying for all the families affected right now, our whole team is.”
St Dom’s players and coaches wore blue arm bands that read “Lewiston” to show their support.
“I wish that we could have won this game for the Lewiston community, not just for ourselves, but we’re glad that we’re all safe and we send our condolences to all the people who have lost someone or gotten injured,” Gnidehoue said.
Monmouth will play Richmond for the Class D South championship at Gardiner on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The Mustangs defeated the Bobcats 3-0 in the teams’ only regular season meeting on Sept. 8.
“We’ve played them before, and I think they’re obviously a better team, but we’re just going to have to play hard and play with a stronger defense and not let up any goals like we did today on free kicks and throw-ins,” Harmon said.
Fletcher said the Mustangs won’t change much and will focus on excelling in their style of play.
“We’re going to continue to do what we do and preach touches on the ball and play good defense,” Fletcher said.
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