MANCHESTER, NH — It’s been a bumpy first season in Division II for the Trinity High School boys soccer team. With a roster depleted by graduation and transfer, the Pioneers have struggled against the tougher competition, winning just two of their first 11 games.
On Thursday, Trinity’s wounded confidence received a much-needed boost in the form of a 3-0 win over arch-rival Derryfield School. The victory improved the Pioneers to 3-8-1 on the season and kept alive their slim hopes for making the D-II State Tournament.
“For us, moving into the last five or six games of the season, we’re moving into must-win territory for us,” said Trinity Coach Phil Tuttle. “For us, we knew what we had to do today. We haven’t had a game like that all year long, where we beat anybody, 3-0.”
Junior sweeper Ian Shamel led the way for Trinity with a goal and an assist. He also anchored a defense that locked down the Derryfield offense, with Trinity keeper Drew Overy forced to make just three saves.
Derryfield (6-5-0, D-III) had come into the game on a roll, winning four of their last five games by a combined score of 17-1. But aside from a 15-minute stretch at the start of the second half, the Cougars played flat.
“The first half we were just not dialed in,” said Derryfield Coach Jeffrey Couiseneau. ”
We started the second half well but the latter part of the second half I thought we lost a little bit of it. At any given time, we haqve four freshmen out there. So we have a lot of young kids that are not used to carrying a big load for a long time.”
The game ultimately came down to which team would take best advantage of their scoring chances. Down 1-0 early in the second half, Derryfield had four corners (six for the game) over a span of 12 minutes but failed to put a shot on goal. By contrast, Trinity scored goals off its only two corners of the second half to put the game away.
. @trinitypioneers Evan Pearson scores off a corner kick by Griffen Cassell, giving Trinity a 2-0 lead over @DSCougars . The Pioneers went on to win, 3-0. pic.twitter.com/xZBLAEBeNg
— Bill Gilman (@bgilman66) October 7, 2022
Trinity drew first blood in the 36th minute. Shamel chipped a perfect lead pass to a streaking Nate Shipman, who gathered it and slipped a shot past Derryfield keeper Logan Goldberg for a 1-0 lead.
Derryfield came out hard on the attack to open the second half and applied steady pressure. Cougars’ captain Dugan Brewer-Little began to take control of the midfield to keep play in the attack zone, The pressure led to four corner kicks, but in each instance, Derryfield was unable to put a shot on Overy and Trinity was able to clear.
Trinity gained some insurance in the 65th minute off a corner kick by Griffen Cassell. Brewer-Logan leapt high and headed the ball away from the Derryfield net but Trinity midfielder Evan Pearson broke in got his right foot on the ball before it ever hit the ground, drilling it into the far corner.
Four minutes later, Trinity’s pressure led to another corner and, once again, they took advantage. This time, the corner came off the foot of Andrew Wood. Shamel, the tallest player on either team, times his jump perfectly and headed it past Goldberg to push the lead to 3-0.
“(Shamel) was great tonight. It was really good for him. We came off a tough game against Lebanon (a 4-0 loss) and it was a tough game for him, personally.
So for him to have that kind of response and have a game like this was really big for him,” said Tuttle.
Trinity is back in action Saturday morning, on the road at Souhegan (2-8-0). Derryfield will host 4-6 Raymond on Tuesday. The Pioneers and Cougars will meet in a rematch on Oct. 28 at Derryfield.
