ORANGE — After a series of mostly lopsided wins to start the season, the Mahar boys soccer team lost 3-2 to Palmer Tuesday afternoon.
“It serves as a little wake-up call,” Mahar coach Dan Guertin said. “This year is going to go the way it has the first few opening games. It was great to see the kids compete against top competition.”
Two quick goals in the second half by Palmer’s Joey Chartier gave the Panthers a 3-1 lead. Mahar answered when Andrew’s Herk’s long shot trickled through the gloves of Palmer keeper Evan Smith to make it 3-2. A couple great opportunities slipped away for the Senators, coupled with some impressive saves by Smith.
The Senators (5-1, 4-0 McGrath) had their chances to score throughout the game, but shots were either cleared of the net or stopped by Smith. Outside of the one mishap, Smith played well for the Panthers (3-1, 2-1 Holley) with eight saves.
“They put together some good chances in the last 10 to 15 minutes,” Guertin said. “It was good to see that they continued to work, but there are a lot of underclassmen mistakes out there. There’s some stuff that can be cleaned up.”
The Senators played their second game in as many days after facing Smith Academy on Monday.
“It was really tough playing yesterday,” Guertin said. “Some of my kids were out of gas. But we still mounted a pretty good comeback at the end.”
James Temple scored in the first half for the Senators.
“We lost but I honestly thought we played really well,” Temple said. “I was really proud of all the boys.”
Tyler Cole opened the scoring for Palmer, before Temple tied the game in the first half. Logan Dodge started in net for the Senators and made two impressive saves early in the game while allowing one goal.
Dodge, usually a field player, came out of net to help out due to an injury in the midfield.
Ethan Williams allowed two goals in the second half. On one play, Williams came out of the goal aggressively but missed the ball. After bouncing around inside the penalty area Chartier tapped it in to make it 2-1.
“He’s gotta own everything inside the six,” Guertin said. “But he has to do a better job of reading it.”
Just a few moments later, Chartier sent a long shot passed Williams to the left corner of the net to make it 3-1.
Mahar’s Riley Drew came out of the game late in the second half holding his right leg after a collision with a Palmer player and didn’t return.
