WMHS boys soccer

Wolverines win 5-1 scrimmage over Telstar

Fri, 08/26/2016 - 2:30pm

The Wolverines got a pair of goals from Russell Marr and Grant Hefler in a 5-1 soccer win against visiting Telstar Regional High School during a scrimmage game Thursday evening, Aug. 25, at Wiscasset Middle High School.

Wiscasset lit up the scoreboard just two minutes into the game after Marr’s shot from the 18-yard line ricocheted off the post and into the net. The Wolverines continued to dominate the first half of play but didn’t score again until the 17:23 mark. This time it was Nate Woodman who found the net, putting the host ahead 2-0.

Telstar had a chance to get on the scoreboard with 9:33 left until halftime after a Wolverine defender was whistled for a handball. Because the infraction was inside the penalty area, Telstar was awarded a penalty kick. Zack Stone’s shot was well struck but right at WMHS goalie Sam Strozier, who dropped to the ground and caught the ball.

With the clock winding down, a scramble in front of the Telstar goal led to a WMHS corner kick. The ensuing kick found Ethan James in the goal mouth but his headball went over the net. Wiscasset finished the first half with a 10 to 3 shot edge.

Shortly after the second half began, James rang a shot off the goal post. A few minutes later, he found Hefler open. Hefler fired and scored.

Marr then put WMHS up 4-0 with his second goal netting a headball past the diving goalie with 22:35 left. Conlon Ranta set up the score by lofting a nice pass to his teammate.

Telstar’s Avery Griffin ended the shutout with  8:14 left. Helfler then finished the visitors off with his second goal with 4:45 left to play.

Because it was only a scrimmage, an official scorebook wasn’t kept. Wiscasset clearly outshot Telstar 11-3 in the first half. The second half the shot ratio was about even at seven a piece.

Strozier finished with about eight saves including the penalty kick.

Afterwards, Wolverines Coach Chris Cossette said he saw a lot of improvement in his team. “We’d played a lot better tonight than in our first scrimmage at Medomak Valley on Tuesday. Sam looked a lot more comfortable in the net and the defense played a lot better in front of him.”

Cossette said his roster was a little thin against Telstar because several of his players were unable to make the game. “It gave me an opportunity to move players around in the second half and see how they’d look playing in different positions. Overall I think we did pretty well.”

Wiscasset will host Richmond 6 p.m., Monday, Aug. 29 in their final scrimmage game. They’ll open the regular season Sept. 6 against Carrabec.