BA vs. Kent School 9/14/13

            Bridgton Academy soccer hit the road this past weekend for what would be a tough and arduous stretch of two games against a top-5 nationally ranked prep program and a Division II college team.  Against Kent School, the boys came out firing out of the gates in the first 5 minutes surprising the Class A power with their speed up front. BA found themselves in on goal a few times, but unfortunately could not beat Kents Blue chip, future Division I keeper. After 10 minutes of some back and forth high paced soccer, Kent broke open the scoring, playing the ball to their star Ghanain forward who writhed through our defense and blasted a shot 20 yards out into the corner of the goal. A devastating blow for a weary BA side. Their second goal would come only 10 minutes later when a poorly cleared ball by the BA defense allowed the Kent player the chance to fire an awkward half-volley that found the upper corner of the goal from 25 yards away. The half would finish 2-0 leaving BA a bit stunned and down. With an unspoken determination and mindset, the second half would be a different story. The Wolverines came out all over the Class A power with a flurry of hard tackles and half dangerous chances. They would pull one back with 30 minutes to go when Sam Park was violently elbowed by the goalkeeper resulting in a penalty kick and a yellow card for the keeper. Andrew Gass calmly drove it home and cut the lead to 2-1. Less than 10 minutes later, a miscleared corner from the Kent School Defense found Casey Hamill who took the ball off one bounce from 25 yards out and laced a beautiful curving shot to the upper corner of the goal to tie the score at 2-2.   BA would create 3 more quality chances only to see them harmlessly drift wide and the game would finish 2-2 with the BA coaching staff very proud of the comeback effort and the character shown by the boys.