Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Bridgton Academy vs. Hebron Academy


Nov 5, 2012
The BA Wolverines took to their home field for their last home contest of the season against a Hebron Academy side that had ten wins and three division 1 level players.  Bridgton was still fuming from their last defeat at the hands of Exeter and a playoff hopeful Hebron side had no shot from the start. GREAT, combination play and composure into the attacking third led to the Wolverines scoring 4 times in the game with goals from Brion Likaj, Mike Kelley, Pedro Lucas Ferreira, and Nick Melville, sealed the deal with the defense putting together their 9th shutout of the season. The game was called in the last 5 minutes due to darkness with the game already in doubt for the Hebron side. Next for the Wolverines is Wednesday November 7th against Brewster Academy.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Bridgton Academy @ Phillips Exeter

 
On Saturday November 3rd, the Bridgton Academy soccer team traveled to Exeter, NH to play Phillips Exeter. It was a tough game down to the final moments when Phillips Exeter scored the only goal of the game.
 
 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Wolverines play South Kent

Oct 23rd 2012

Bridgton Soccer hit the road for what was the biggest game of the season up to date. A matchup with
one of the best prep schools in the country, South Kent under the lights at Southern New Hampshire.
The boys came out of the gates a little tentative as South Kent quickly was possessing the ball one and two touch very skillfully slowly working their way up the field into Bridgton territory throughout the first 15 minutes of the game yet the BA defense held very steady, thwarting any attack before it could truly materialize. The game was flowing until around the 20th minute when a long ball out of the South Kent wrong footed a BA center back resulting in a miss clear and a clear chance on goal 18 yards out which was hammered home for a 1-0 win. This was the score at halftime as the boys came off the field a bit shocked from the events that occurred playing great defense all half until that shot. The second half was a much different story as the boys came out and immediately shut down their best midfielder, causing their engine to shut down and for them to be on their heels while the Wolverines mounted numerous attacks without any results. The game finished 1-0 South Kent. Coach Perron was proud of the boys effort especially working with only 12 players on the night due to injuries. Next up for the Wolverines is Hebron Academy at home on Halloween afternoon.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Wolverines play Army Prep

Congratulations to Bridgton Academy Soccer who posted a 4 -1 road win over Army Prep.

Friday, October 19, 2012

CMCC Results

The Wolverine Soccer team played CMCC this past Wednesday. CMCC won the game 2-0. More info on this match to come..

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Wolverines play Kents Hill


Oct 6 2012
After Bridgton’s second loss of the season, another trap game came to fruition as they took the road to play a pesky Kents Hill team on their turf.  Kents hill bunkered in the entire 90 minutes at times having 11 players behind half field making it very difficult for the Wolverines to penetrate. Many chances from Brion Likaj, Kevin Leite, Nick Melville, and Pedro Lucas Ferreira went by the way side as the game got tight into the late stages of the second half. Finally, Bridgton got its break on a through ball into the box resulting in a Wolverine player getting pulled down in the box. Nick Melville buried the ensuing PK making it 1-0 and that is how the game would end. Escaping with a win is a great phrase to describe the events as BA didn’t capitalize on numerous chances to score. The win pushes the record to 7-2 with an upcoming match against CMCC.

Wolverines play Bowdoin College


Oct 3 2012
The 6-1 Wolverines again hit the road to face in State opponent Bowdoin college JV for the second time in the season having already beat them 1-0 once. All that can be said about this game is that the boys had a bit of a big win hangover effect from the win over Kimball Union on parents weekend dropping the result 1-0. We must give credit to the Bowdoin team as they played a tough game and really worked the ball on a sloppy, wet, and muddy pitch it certainly turned out to be an equalizer and a factor in the game. The loss drops the record to 6-2. The boys will get back to work in a game against Kents Hill October 6th.

Wolverines take on Kimball Union Academy


Sept 29th 2012
The 5 – 1 Bridgton Wolverine soccer program took to the field this parents weekend to face a perennial  New England prep soccer power Kimball Union academy on a soggy and wet Saturday afternoon. Kimball Union had multiple players destined to play college soccer with 1 in particular already committed to Boston University. Kimball Union started the game pressing our back line out of their 4-5-1 formation making it very hard on the backs to possess the ball and play like we usually do. Their pressure resulted in a few early half chances that our goalkeeper Ian Cushing did a good job gobbling up. After about 15 minutes, our team picked up their level of play and began to get in a rhythm helped by the play of Nick Melville and Kevin Leite in the middle of the park. Also, our super sub Ryan Bertone came off the bench in the early going , changing the game with his speed and Hockey style physical play as he alone had a few chances to put a goal on the board for us. About 30 minutes into the game, Bertone won us a corner which Pedro Lucas put a beautiful service into the box which was at first headed back to him, but the second service found the head of Brian Ducharme who knew what to do with it burying it into the back of the net. 1-0 BA. The second half intensity was high as Kimball Union

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Wolverines are having an excellent season!


The Bridgton Academy Soccer team has had a challenging, yet rewarding season. They currently have seven wins, two losses. The two games that they have lost both resulted in a final score of 1-0. This means that throughout the entire season, only two goals have been scored against the Wolverines! Despite having only one "floating" substitute (an extra player from the hockey team) they have showed strength, courage, and skill as they look forward to what is looking like an outstanding season.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

2013 Soccer Roster


    # FIRST LAST POS.
9 Mike Kelley Fwd.
21 Rudy Mukania Mid/Fwd
10 Pedro Ferreira Mid/Fwd
11 Fabricio Kuhnen Mid/Fwd
5 Nick Melville Mid
8 Brion Likaj Mid/Fwd
20 Kevin Leite Def/Mid
14 Brian Ducharme Def/Mid
22 Doug Lyons Def
19 Max Senechal Def
7 Ryan Lambert Def
15 Maxwell Donahue Mid/Fwd
1 Ian Cushing GK
6 Ryan Bertone Def/Fwd

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Wolverines play Thayer Academy


Sept 15th 2012

The Bridgton academy soccer team suited up, after another long trip to Braintree, Mass, to take on the
Tigers of Thayer academy, another solid ISL opponent. The beginning of the game saw another feeling out period where both teams struggled to truly figure out the other. Some of the Bridgton players were having to adjust to new positions due to the loss of starting center back Doug Lyons. Towards the end of the second half, the Wolverines of Bridgton put the first score on the board with Brion Likaj, the beneficiary of a great pass from Pedro Lucas Ferreira. With a 1-0 lead coming out of halftime, the BA Wolverines were playing confident and controlled soccer until Nick Melville took a shot to the face and had to sit down for a bit, forcing the team to play a man down giving Thayer a chance to capitalize. Like he has every game so far this season, Ian Cushing came up big a few times keeping Thayer off the board. Nick came back into the game with 25 minutes left with a purpose as he stole a pass from the defense, took a touch, and blasted a ball into the side netting to seal the game for the visiting Wolverines. Great games by Mike Kelley, Rudy Mukania, Ryan Lambert, as well as the rest of the squad. Next contest is this Wednesday at Nobles and Greenough school in the Boston area. Wolverines took the game 2-0

Monday, September 10, 2012

Soccer claims first two season games for Bridgton!

Game Recap’s 2012 Bridgton Academy Soccer

Sept, 7th 2012

A beautiful fall afternoon on September 7th 2012 saw the Bridgton Academy boys varsity soccer team
finally having the opportunity to open their much anticipated campaign under new head coach Adam
Perron against the Bowdoin College JV team. The game was a back and forth affair in the first half as
both teams struggled to maintain possession. For the Wolverines of Bridgton, it was the first true 11
v 11 game the boys have seen and the rust was apparent early as they had to get used to playing with
each other against an organized and slightly bigger opponent.

As the game went on, BA’s chances increased as both wingers Pedro Lucas Ferreira and Fabricio Kuhnen
were working hard on the flanks delivering dangerous service and thru ball passes in trying to send our
alternating target forward combo of Rudy Mukania and Mike Kelley through on breakaways yet the
Bowdoin defense held strong. Also playing well in the midfield was Salem, Massachusetts own Brion
Likaj as he had numerous dangerous passes through the Polar Bear defense to Ferreira only to see them
blown back by questionable calls from the referee. Nonetheless, we missed a few chances as a team
while Bowdoin put together a few good chances of their own. For the most part, the back four did a
great job denying a great Bowdoin transition from putting numbers on the board led by center backs
Max Senechal and Doug Lyons, with outside backs Brian Ducharme and Ryan Lambert also putting in
solid efforts. Not to be forgotten on the day was former Class B state player of the year goalkeeper Ian
Cushing who put together a solid effort in goal throughout the afternoon.

The second half saw the action heat up as the field began to get stretched out due to fatigue from both
teams. The first costly mistake of the afternoon came from the Polar Bear defense as a lazy pass out of
the back was picked off by Likaj as he ended up in on a 1 v 1 breakaway with the goalkeeper and lofted
a nicely chipped ball up and over him which nestled into the corner of the goal. 1-0 Bridgton Academy.
This deficit did not deter the Polar Bears as they came furiously back launching a few dangerous counter
attacks, some thwarted by stalwart Defensive mid Kevin Leite before he left the game with an injury
while one counter attack forced Cushing into a big first save, followed by a ring off the post rebound,
then followed by a Lambert clear off the line on a third rebound. Needless to say we escaped that play
and shored up the defense and came away with a 1-0 victory and our first win of the season. 1 and 0.
Next game is against Bates College on Sunday Afternoon.

Sept 9th 2012

After a great opening season result against the Bowdoin College Polar Bear JV’s, the Bridgton
Wolverines hit the road for the first game of a lengthy road trip, first stop of the week being the Bates
Bobcats. Another perfect day in the state of Maine saw the Wolverines matched up against a much
better and more organized opponent yet the boys were up for the task on the day. The start of the
game saw again a see saw affair in which both teams were trying to figure each other out. Bridgton
Academy had made a few lineup/formation changes due to the injury of Kevin Leite from Friday’s game

moving Chevrus High School product Nick Melville to Defensive Center Mid which made a big difference
in the balance of play. Nick played a strong midfield and proved to be a nuisance for the bobcats with
his possession oriented play and work rate. Still the Nescac side held a good amount of the play in
the first half until substitute Conor Daley came in for the Wolverines and helped change the rest of
the match within the first 20 minutes. Creating some havoc among the Bates midfielders, he forced a
bad pass which was picked off by Ryan Lambert, who then found a great run by Fabrico Kuhnen (set
up by a decoy run from Pedro Lucas Ferreira)and Kuhnen did the rest coolly dribbling past the beaten
goalkeeper and slotting the ball home, 1-0 BA on Kuhnens first goal of the year.

Bridgton did not look back from this first goal, as they quickly put on a second tally ten minutes later
when Fabricio Kuhnen again found the ball on the flank and, after beating a Bates defender 1 v 1,
crossed the ball into the box for an on coming Pedro Lucas who beat the goaltender to the low right
corner for a 2-0 lead going into halftime. Going into the second half, the Wolverines made some slight
formational adjustments with the lead but still put together some impressive goal scoring opportunities.
Arguably the best goal of the early season came off a great defensive steal in the midfield which started
a quick breakout, the ball was pumped forward to the feet of Brion Likaj who sped down the right flank
only to hold it up and keep possession, waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Three passes later the ball
arrived right back to his dangerous left foot allowing him to make a beautiful cross to the back post
finding big man Mike Kelley to head it in on the back post for his first goal of the season. 3-0 Bridgton
Academy.

That was all the scoring that was needed as the defense put together another strong effort led by center
back Max Senechal and Captain Ian Cushing as they held another opponent to a 0 while allowing only 7
shots (Ian had 6 saves and controlled the box very well on the service). BA pushed their record to 2-0 on
the young season with the win.

Bridgton will get a short two days of practice and recovery before stepping on the field again
Wednesday at Belmont Hill School in Boston, MA. Kickoff is slated for 4:00 pm as the Wolverines look to
keep their opening streak alive.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Faculty Hold Students to 2-2 Tie

A group of faculty and students faced off yesterday for what promised to be a good game.  The students came out fighting and tallied the first goal of the game.  It wasn't long before the faculty made a comeback, and took a 2-1 lead.  They thought they could hold on for the remainder of the game, however the students slipped one more goal past the faculty.

Here are a few shots from the game:



  

 

To see the rest, check out our shutterfly page here.

Friday, March 30, 2012

New Video!

Are you wondering if Bridgton Academy is the right place for you? Check out this interview with Coach Alan Ashenfelter to learn a little more about the Wolverine's soccer team!


Monday, March 19, 2012

Where Are They Now

We have updated our Where Are They Now page. If you have any additions, please let Coach Ashenfelter know at aashenfelter@bridgtonacademy.org so we can make those changes. If you are near any of the schools, please stop by for a game to support our guys!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Soccer Finds Success at the MPS Showcase

The soccer team traveled to Portland this past weekend to participate in the MPS showcase and found great success in front of multiple college coaches. The teams started off facing The New Hampshire Classics and won 4-0. After a short break, they took the field against Mass Premier Soccer and took away a 4-1 win. The last contest of the day saw great competition as the two undefeated teams took the field. Back and forth play created many scoring opportunities for both Bridgton and Maine Premier Soccer. At the end of the game, the two teams tied 1-1.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

School Is Back In Session!

Following a relaxing winter break, the students are back on campus and school is in full swing. The soccer team is hitting the books and the gym to prepare for the second semester. And of course, Mother Nature welcomed everyone back with a nice snow storm, which will make for some great after school skiing!