Boys soccer: Chanhee Son, Max Millette tally 2nd-half goals to lift Frontier past Mahar, 3-1 (PHOTOS)

ORANGE — There was a lot at stake when the Frontier and Mahar boys soccer teams met on Wednesday at the Woodward Complex. 

The Redhawks entered with an unbeaten record in the Moriarty League while the Senators had just one loss in league play — to Frontier earlier in the season. That meant Wednesday’s contest would go a long way to determining the league champion at seasons end. 

It played out that way in the first half. Mahar scoring on a late corner kick to knot the game 1-1 into the break. Frontier kept up the pressure in the second half, which eventually led to a pair of goals in the final 20 minutes to allow it to keep its unbeaten league record intact with a 3-1 victory. 

“Obviously we liked getting the third goal where it helps us in the state rankings but the win is the most important thing,” Redhawks coach Evan Horton said. “This win puts us in a good position to win our league. A bad result for us today would have given Mahar an opportunity to share it with how well they’ve been playing. We knew that and they knew that. They’ve had a run of great results and we knew this would be a tough game. Mahar is very well coached, game plan well, work well with what they have and grind out results.” 

It was Frontier’s depth that gave it an advantage in the second half. 

On a hot day on the turf in Orange, both the Redhawks (9-1, 7-0) and Senators (6-2, 4-2) were forced to rotate players during the final 40 minutes of action. The Frontier bench came through with some big plays, allowing it to stay fresh and keep up the pressure. 

“We put in a really good first half,” Guertin said. “We ran out of gas in the second half. [Frontier’s] depth and playmaking ability really showed. They put together a solid half against us.” 

Tied 1-1 with under 20 minutes to go in regulation, the Redhawks got the ball to their No. 10. 

Chanmin Son slipped the ball to his brother, Chanhee Son, at the top of the box. The senior made a quick turn to shake a Senator defender and deked out another before firing the ball into the goal from outside the 18 to give Frontier the late 2-1 lead. 

“I was trying to find the space between the midfielders and the defenders playing in the No. 10 role,” Chanhee Son said. “My brother pointed at me to find that space. I had a defender on my back, quickly checked my shoulder and when I asked for the ball on my foot, made a quick turn. Everyone at halftime was telling me to shoot because [Mahar was] packing in the box. I had one and it was a good shot.”

Two minutes later the Redhawks added an insurance goal to all but seal the win. Frontier drew a corner and Chanhee Son sent it in to Max Millette. The freshman buried the opportunity to give the Redhawks a 3-1 lead.

Millette, as well as Tavo Vincent-Warner, Grayson Bishop, Will Reading and Ian Paciorek were some of the younger players Horton noted for stepping up during the second half. 

“Mahar knows how we play,” Horton said. “They game planned well against us and we played into it. That happened the first time around against them. At the end I’m glad we had guys step up. Ian draws the corner, Max scores. We had some younger guys step up today. I was happy with our substitutes today. They did a good job keeping the momentum going. Our starters were flat and weren’t responding. To have the young guys come in and give us a spark was good to see.” 

Frontier opened the scoring after its two forwards hooked up. Nico Fasulo drove down the sideline and sent a pass to Rosco Palmer, who buried the shot to give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead. 

The Senators struck just before the half after drawing a corner. Sam Connors sent the ball into the box, and while it looked like it was going to go right to a pair of Frontier defenders, Mahar’s Dom Whitman skied up and got his head on the ball, somehow sending it into the back of the net to tie the game with an impressive finish.

Owen Babb came up with six saves for the Redhawks while Tristan Gaj made 10 saves for the Senators. 

While it’s never fun to lose, Guertin said going against a team like Frontier will help prepare his squad for the postseason, where Mahar is looking to make a run at some hardware. 

“You’re going to have to play quality competition if you want to go anywhere,” Guertin said. “You’re not going to run through a season unbeaten and it’s really tough to only lose once. I’d rather lose to a really good team than win against a weaker one and that’s what happened today. We lost to a really good team, put a solid first half in and put ourselves in a position to go win the second half. We really just ran out of gas.”

Frontier is also looking to raise some banners at the end of the season, and beating a team like Mahar shows those goals are in reach. 

“We’re looking further into the future to Western Mass. and state rankings,” Chanhee Son said. “We’ll take this win.  That was a good competitor and the team that was second right behind us in our league. To get two wins against them, I’ll take that any day.”