Another Tough Loss for Bridgton

In a game that was much closer for 75 minutes than the final score reflected, Bridgton Academy lost to Bates College JV by a score of 6-2.

The game saw good play from both teams in the first half, where the score stood at 0-2 with Bates leading going into half time. The Wolverines came out of the half looking to play but soon had another goal scored on them to go down 0-3. It looked like BA was starting to run out of steam when they put a shot on goal nine minutes into the half and brought the score to 1-3. With about 23 minutes left in the half Bridgton scored again, and suddenly the Wolverines began to play with a much greater intensity.

On the field Bridgton really challenged for every ball and it looked like Bridgton was about to tie on a ripping head ball shot from Chris Rajotte which got by the keeper but was saved by an equally impressive header by a bates player to put the ball up and out of play. The resulting corner by Zach Johnson looked to be another good opportunity but the Bates keeper was able to nullify the resulting shot. The intensity stayed strong for about 10 minutes and then Bates scored again to push the lead to 4-2. At this point Bridgton lost a bit of the impetus and the remaining ten minutes resulted in two more goals for Bates.

Look for additional game comments from Coach Mellon and Berk soon.

Bridgton plays at home taking on Kents Hill on Wednesday, October 1st at 3:30.

Zach Johnson at speed trying to put the ball in play.


David Martin trapping the ball in front of the Bates goal.


Jay Prizio and Joe Medeiros trying to make something happen.


Julian looking to feed Zack the ball.



Zach turning on the feed from Julian.


Matt Hill getting ready to challenge a ball in the corner.


Nick Gardner about to make a save.


Van Lenten winning a ball in the air (Bruce Cole Jr. photo)


Zach beating his man. (Bruce Cole Jr. photo)


Zack in a drag race. (Bruce Cole Jr. Photo.)


David putting up a midfield shot. (Bruce Cole Jr. photo)


Joe fighting for the ball. (Bruce Cole Jr. photo)


Josh fighting for the ball. (Bruce Cole Jr. photo)


Julian clearing the ball. (Bruce Cole Jr. photo)


Van Lenten and a Bate player both going for the ball. (Bruce Cole Jr. photo)

Wolverines Tie Holderness 1-1

Bridgton Academy hit the road to head over to Holderness School in New Hampshire. The match saw improved play and focus and resulted in a tie. Game recap to follow.

Images for the Colby JV game

Bridgton Academy soccer lost another tough game against a college JV team, this time taking on Colby in a match that saw strong play in the first half by both teams. Bridgton came out in the second half down 4-1 but got a quick score to bring the game to a manageable 4-2, however the intensity began to drop off and the Wolverines struggled to control the ball through much of the second half, spending a tremendous amount of energy chasing down Colby players. In the closing 15 minutes of the match it was evident that Bridgton's nemesis- fatigue, had set in. By the time the match ended the final score was 7-2.
Full game recap coming soon.


Joe Medeiros fighting for the ball.


Michael Peart and Joshua Robinson looking to cut the Colby attach off on the angle.


Joshua Robinson getting ready to clear the ball.


Robinson with control of the ball.


Jabulani Stokes-Nickerson challenging for the ball.


Kevin Van Lenten challenging for the ball.


Van Lenten looking to break up a play.


Zach Johnson hustling for the ball.

Home Game Today

The Wolverines play Colby JV today at home, game time: 4:30pm

Hope to see you there.

Sundays Match Against Winchendon School

Bridgton Academy soccer faced another tough opponent on Sunday when they took on Winchendon School. The Wolverines dropped the match 6-1 to take the season to a 1-5 record.

A complete game recap will follow. Here are photos from the contest.

Bridgton Academy spent much of the game playing defense.


Jabalani Stokes-Nickerson trying to move the ball through a group of Winchendon players.


Wolverine keeper- Nick Gardner saw more of the ball then he would have liked on Sunday.


Joe Medieros moving the ball up field.


Medieros trying to ignite the offense.

Zach Johnson fighting for the ball.

Kevin Van Lenten looking for space.

A good aerial battle for the ball.

Wolverines Lose Tough Match to Bowdoin JV 4-3

Bridgton Academy dropped to 1-4 on the season with a tough 4-3 loss to Bowdoin JV on Friday afternoon. It was a perfect day for soccer, with bright blue sky and a crisp fall air. That was exactly how Bridgton started out- bright and crisp, putting up the first goal of the game in the opening 10 minutes.
The first half saw solid play from Bridgton and Bowdoin as it was a good contest with both teams showing periods of excellent ball control. The score was tied 2-2 going into the half.
The second half saw the Wolverines go away from playing their brand of soccer, and while the game was tight, there were mental lapses that could have cost them additional goals, and likely cost them opportunities to put more points on the board.
It was another good learning experience for the team. Up next: Winchendon School on Sunday at 2 p.m. here at Bridgton Academy where the Wolverines will try to bring their season record to 2-4.
Photos and coaches and players comments to follow.

Photos by BA Student- Alex Spradlin from Stroudsburg, PA

Wolverines Notch Their First Win

In their first win of the season, the Wolverines beat Milton Academy 1-0.

"This was a great win to get the monkey off of our back," said head coach Kevin Mellon, "we played Bridgton Academy soccer and we played with a lot of heart."

Coming off an injury that saw him sit the last third of the game against Choate, keeper Nick Gardner returned to net and had his first shut out. "If we gave out a game ball it would go to Gardner, who had a fantastic game- including four stops of breakaways that I don't think many keepers would have gotten," coach said.

The lone goal of the game came in the first 15 minutes of the first half, the score goes to Joe Medeiros with an assist from Zach Johnson.

"We played BA soccer and that mean we were able to kick the ball around and control the tempo a bit which helped keep fatigue from really setting in. I can saw we are very excited to get back to Bridgton to ring that victory bell," coach Mellon said.

For a complete game recap check back tomorrow after we sit sit down with Coach Mellon and a few players.

Wolverines in Training

Coach Mellon's new soccer clinic for kids ages 5-15 begins this weekend. This will be a great chance for local youth to get to know the players and be coached by the players as well as Coach Mellon.

The program runs three Sundays, starting this Sunday- September 21st. For those interested click here for the registration form, or call Coach Mellon at 207-647-3322 x231.

A Tough Weekend for Wolverine Soccer

Bridgton Academy soccer headed south this past weekend for a pair of games in Connecticut, Salisbury School on Saturday and Choate Rosemary Hall in on Sunday.
The Wolverines ended up dropping both games, setting the season record at 0-3, but did so in very different ways.
“We played our best soccer of the year on Saturday against Salisbury School,” said Wolverine head soccer coach Kevin Mellon. “We played Bridgton Academy soccer, which is great soccer, playing together as a family, having full understanding of what everyone is doing and what they need to do. When we play Bridgton Academy soccer we have a very good chance at winning, when we play our opponents brand of soccer we will likely not end up victorious,” Mellon continued.
The match Saturday saw the Wolverines head into half time with 1-0 lead, after Zach Johnson (Westbrook, ME) took advantage of a one-on-one situation. The first half saw Bridgton play with Joe Medeiros (Hudson, NH) on the bench for disciplinary issue, but the team stepped up and played well while one of their top players sat. After the half Salisbury came back and tied the game and that is where the score stood until late in the match when a hand ball was called against Bridgton in the box and gave Salisbury a penalty shot opportunity that they converted. The penalty shot did not sit well with Coach Mellon, “it was a tough call, and not consistent with the way the game had been called, but that was what the refs called and we have to move on.”
“The second half we started to show signs of fatigue, we are running a short roster this year and these guys are basically playing a full 90 minutes each. Despite the score on Saturday I am very proud of our club, they played a great game and if we can play like that again we will notch our first win soon,” said Mellon.
Sunday was a different story, dropping that contest 7-1 against Choate Rosemary Hall. “It was like the guys had bought tickets to the game, rather than bring their uniforms to play,” said Coach Mellon. “We came out flat, didn’t play our brand of soccer, in fact it was the worst soccer I’ve seen us play. We were down 4-1 at the half and all four of those came on breakaways,” Mellon said.
To make matters worse, Bridgton’s sole goal keeper, Nick Gardner (Manchester, NH), went down early in the second half with a knee injury. Fortunately Kevin Van Lenten (Topsfield, MA) stepped up to play keeper, “Kevin has never played keep in a game, but he volunteered and came in and did a great job for us,” said Mellon. “It was unfortunate that it took an injury to get the team to step up, but they did and for the remainder of the match we did a good job and held them for the most part, but again fatigue reared its ugly head,” continued Mellon.
“It was a tough weekend, but we will come out of this stronger and ready to take on Milton Academy, and then get ready for our first home game against Bowdoin JV on September 19th. The upside of the weekend was the guys saw themselves play very good soccer and they saw themselves play not so great soccer, so they know the difference and they know they can do it, now we just need to put together 90 minutes of Bridgton Academy soccer, and we will,” Mellon said.

Tough Weekend for Wolverine Soccer

Bridgton Academy soccer had a tough weekend, dropping both games. They went down 1-2 vs Salisbury School and 1-7 against Choate Rosemary Hall.

Despite the losses, Coach Mellon said, "against Salisbury we played the best soccer we have played this year, but fatigue took a toll."

Look for game recaps soon.

Back to Back Games This Weekend

Coach Mellon takes the Bridgton Academy soccer team on a bit of a road trip this weekend as they have games both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday the Wolverines take on Salisbury School at 3:30pm at Salisbury and on Sunday they hit the field against Choate Rosemary Hall at 1:00pm at Choate.

This will be a tough test and recovery will be key for Sunday's game as the Wolverines don't have many subs to work with.

Don't forget next weekend the Wolverines in Training clinics begin. There is still room, it should be a great program for both the kids and the player coaches.

Season Opener

The Bridgton Academy soccer team opened their season against Thayer Academy in Braintree, MA. The Wolverines dropped the game 1-4 in a match that saw a tight first half.

"When we played our game we played them well, but when we played their game we had holes that they took advantage of. We learned a lot and we are getting better as a team," said Wolverine goalie Nick Gardner.

Look for game stats and complete re-cap soon.

Late edit:

This past weekend the Wolverines faced their first match of the season and took a tough loss to Thayer Academy 1-4.
Head Coach Kevin Mellon was positive despite the tough loss, “overall it was a great game, although we were on the defensive side of the ball a good chunk of the match, we did have our opportunities we just weren’t able to capitalize on them.”
With the defense getting a work out it was Bridgton goalie Nick Gardner who was facing a lot of shots on net, most of which he stopped.
“We played a good first half, and the score showed that, but the second half we got tired and had mental lapses. The highlight of the second half was when Joe Medeiros scored our lone goal in the 60th minute, his goal came off of a hard effort where he just refused to be beaten,” Mellon said.
“This was the first time we played 90 minutes, having only 13 guys all preseason it was tough to get in the full time frame, now they know what to expect in all condition,” Mellon said.

Wolverines in Training

Coach Mellon is putting on a new program this year called "Wolverines In Training". This will be a chance for area youth to practice and clinic with the Bridgton Academy Soccer Team- a pretty cool way for the kids to meet the team.

The dates are coming right up- all on Sundays, September 21st, 28th, and October 5th.

Here is a PDF of the registration form, feel free to share with others.

Late update to Friday's Scrimmage

The Wolverines won the scrimmage 4-0 over Lake Region High School. A great match and both teams left the field feeling like they are now better prepared for the the start of the season.