Lincolnville players must like the artificial turf, or perhaps the sheer size of the field—which facilitates their ball movement style of play—but for whatever reason, the LCS eleven have yet to lose a championship game when they have played at the gorgeous facility at the Point Lookout Resort and Conference Center.  Having lost their first three efforts to win a championship on grass fields, Lincolnville has won three and tied two the last five times they have appeared in the Coed Busline League championship game, always at Point Lookout.  They did it again Saturday, October 21st by a score of 3 to 1—thus completing their first perfect season since 2011—against a strong Bristol team on an absolutely beautiful fall day.  It was also the third season in a row that Lincolnville has brought home a championship plaque.  And they did it in style, playing their best game of the season.  The Lynx’s passing was spot on all day, they moved the ball well up both sides, and their defense skillfully deflected almost all of Bristol’s multiple efforts at goal, massively assisted by three time championship starting goalie Matt Kremin who had an absolutely stellar day in the nets.  While Lincolnville had an edge in the play, it was by no means an overwhelming one, and either side could easily have won the day.

            The day actually started badly for the Lynx when it developed that their fine starting sweeper, Emmit Dayhoof was a questionable starter because of a Lyme disease diagnosis the afternoon before.  A quick adjustment shifted Lincoln Outerbridge over from wing defense to sweeper, and the team started the half well despite the loss of Dayhoof.  It took the powerful LCS offense almost eight minutes before they tallied their first, scored—as so often the first goal has been this season—by winger Jackson Bernier.  The ball had been fed in from the right side, and when the defense failed to effectively clear it, Bernier, in the middle of the box, deftly one touched the loose ball through a crowd and underneath the diving keeper to the delight of the Lincolnville fans.  A mere 4:17 later saw Bernier, once again in the middle of the box, receive an excellent pass in from winger Jaden Johnson after a free kick from midfielder Jack Fishman.  Bernier quickly powered the ball into the nets.  On the other end of the field, Kremin helped make up for Dayhoof’s absence by roaming freely around in and out of the box playing a sort of combination sweeper/keeper and breaking up many Bristol tries before they became dangerous.  At 17:55, however, a long clear from the Bristol defense caught the LCS defensive line by surprise, and a Bristol forward broke through for a solo drive against Kremin.  Controlling the ball extremely well and giving Kremin no chance to safely charge him, the Bristol player closed in and slammed the ball cleanly into the net.  The half then ended with only a shaky one-goal lead.

            Bristol made some adjustments during halftime and came out very strongly, playing more of a long pass offense, but Dayhoof, feeling more energetic than he had for over 24 hours and distinctly antsy to play, came off the bench to anchor the LCS defense at sweeper.  His fine play allowed Kremin to take a more conservative role in the nets because Dayhoof was able to break up the plays that Kremin had been handling in the first half.  The LCS offense continued to move the ball with consummate skill, and that resulted in nailing the insurance goal at the 41:06 mark, allowing the Lincolnville fans to breath a little bit easier.  It came when Bernier sent midfielder Kara Andrews down the left wing.  Andrews drove well, turned the ball, beat a defender, and fired an accurate pass into loosely covered striker Griffin Dubrow in the middle of the box.  Taking advantage of the room allowed him, Dubrow sent the ball to the far post for the final score of the game.  That did not end the excitement, however, because Bristol then dangerously charged up the field on three separate occasions in the last eight minutes.  The first two resulted in a point blank shot that Kremin managed to block with his hands followed by snagging the bouncing ball, and a low cross into the middle that Kremin half deflected, half trapped with his right foot and again got with his hands before the other team could take advantage of it.   Bristol’s final try with 1:50 left saw Kremin stifle the effort with a sliding tackle at the top of the box that was then cleared away by the LCS defense.  It then became a simple matter of running the final minute out and starting the post game celebration.

            There are no words sufficient to praise the Lincolnville effort.  The front line of Bernier, Dubrow, and Johnson, hustled for the ball at every opportunity, moved it well, and played an excellent passing game throughout.  Eighth grader Bernier, LCS’s leading scorer this year with 20 goals and 6 assists and a team captain, roamed the offensive zone freely and used his formidable dribbling and passing skills to great effect.  The midfield line of Andrews, Fishman, and Mason Clark largely dominated the mid zone, tirelessly assisting both offense and defense.  Fishman, also an 8th grader and this season’s second leading scorer with 8 goals and 10 assists, was all over the field using his playmaking skills to consistently start the offense.  At the defense, Outerbridge did a superb job filling in for Dayhoof during the first half before returning to his wing defense position, as did Andrews, who filled in for Outerbridge on the outside.  Supporting them were 8th grader, team captain, and wing defense Lili Clement, who consistently played a tough containment game, and 8th grader John Pessara at stopper playing his usual aggressive game and forcing many mistakes on the part of the Bristol players.  As far as 8th grader Dayhoof’s appearance in the second half, it is impossible to describe the morale boost it provided for the entire team.  His defensive play, as usual, was excellent.  In addition, midfielders Aiden Aselton and Bailey Curtis filled provided valuable support off the bench, both showing the same kind of aggressive hustling style as the rest of the team.  Finally, it is impossible to praise team captain Kremin’s net keeping too highly.  For three years he has minded the nets for LCS with great skill, racking up an incredibly stingy three-year goals against average of 0.58.  In his three championship games, Kremin was only scored on once, this year, a testament to Bristol’s strong play that they could beat this superlative keeper.  All things considered, the game was an example of excellent soccer that both teams have reason to be extremely proud of.

            While it was a tenser game than the Lynx of Lincolville have been used to this season, they ultimately prevailed 2 to 0 against the Appleton Wildcats on a lovely day on the LCS pitch on Wednesday, October 18th.  Facing a much improved Appleton squad, LCS was still able to dominate the first half but not able to finish their multiple tries successfully.  The Appleton defense proved difficult to penetrate until the 26:20 mark when winger Mason Clark sent a fine, low cross into striker Griffin Dubrow who then one touched it to the post to his right to just beat the keeper.

            Appleton made some very successful adjustments during the halftime and surprised the Lynx with their aggressive, hustling offense throughout the second half.  Play was essentially even with the ball regularly moving up and down the field with both elevens staging dangerous drives on goal.  The Lincolnville fans were finely able to relax when Dubrow fought for a ball just over midfield, emerged successfully with it, and sent it up to open space on the right side.  Winger Jaden Johnson ran the ball down deep in the Wildcat’s end, beat a defender, took a dribble in all alone to freeze the defense, and then fired a pass into midfielder Kara Andrews in perfect position in the middle of the box.  After a quick trap, Andrews sent the ball to the back post for the insurance goal that LCS so badly needed.  The game then played out evenly for the last 10 minutes.

            As always, the defense, consisting of Lincoln Outerbridge, John Pessara, and Lili Clement and anchored so skillfully by sweeper Emmit Dayhoof, played an excellent game, breaking up or deflecting all of Appleton’s drives.  Midfielders Clark, Andrews, Jack Fishman, Bailey Curtis, and Aiden Aselton strongly controlled the transition game, and winger Jackson Bernier combined with his front line teammates Dubrow, Johnson, and Clark to provide many exciting tries for the crowd.  With this win, the Lynx move onto the Coed Busline League championship game this Saturday, October 21st attempting to complete their defense of their last year’s title. 

            LCS completed their first step towards another championship game by defeating the Vinalhaven Vikings 4 to 0 on a brisk fall day at Lincolnville on Monday, October 16th.  Both teams started play very evenly with the ball staying in the middle half of the field and neither goalie really touching the ball until 14:10 had passed.  At that point, the Lynx offense began to get untracked when midfielder Jack Fishman sent a corner kick into winger Jackson Bernier who had found a hole in the defense just to the inside of the near post.  Bernier promptly and deftly headed the ball straight into the nets for the first tally of the game.  It took just over six minutes to get the insurance goal, initiated by a square pass from Bernier on the left into striker Griffin Dubrow.  Dubrow continued the square onto Fishman who had a fine view of the back end of the goal, and he redirected the ball just inside of the post.  The scoring for the half ended at 27:09 when winger Matt Kremin sent a long feed from just over midfield through the defense.  Dubrow raced the defenders and a charging keeper for the ball, and though he just lost to the keeper, the ensuing kick rebounded off a Viking defender towards the goal.  Dubrow continued to race in and caught up with the ball just in time to tip it over the line for the score.

            Both sides played more evenly in the second half, but LCS managed the only score at 44:16 when Bernier intercepted an angling defensive pass out of the box near the top of the box.  He alertly sent the ball into the empty backside of the goal before the keeper could react.

            Facing their first challenge of the playoff season, the entire LCS team performed well.  At defense, Emmit Dayhoof anchored the line as he has been doing all year, with Lincoln Outerbridge and Lili Clement lending strong support at the wing defensive positions, and John Pessara aggressively played the stopper spot.  Kara Andrews and Mason Clark provided excellent play in the midfield line, and Jaden Johnson exhibited her fine, hustling style for the crowd at the right wing position.  Lincolnville continues their championship pursuit on Wednesday, October 18th at home against the winner of the Appleton-Camden 6 game.

            On Thursday, October 12th, the Lincolnville Lynx finished up their first undefeated, untied regular season since their championship run in 2011 against Jefferson at Jefferson.  The powerful Lynx won 5 to 0, but that score does not reflect the effort and skill shown by the young Jefferson team.  In fact, the play was remarkably even for the first quarter of the game, and the Jefferson offense forced keeper Griffin Dubrow to make two critical sliding saves.  Despite several strong shots on goal, the LCS offense did not get untracked until the 17:09 mark when striker Matt Kremin stole the ball from a defender in the box, took one dribble to his right to get a better view of the goal, and then drilled the ball home.  That was followed 17 seconds later when Kremin intercepted the ensuing kickoff, drove the right side of the field and passed the ball into midfielder Jack Fishman in the middle near the top of the box.  Fishman adroitly moved the ball on to winger Jackson Bernier—the team’s leading scorer—who redirected the ball to his right just inside the far post.

            It remained a very close game in the second half with good tries at each end until at 41:39 Fishman lofted a free kick about 15 yards outside the box to Bernier on the left of the goal.  Bernier then tipped the ball into the net by the far post.  The score stayed there until the very end of the game when midfielder Emmit Dayhoof intercepted a goal kick and slid it to Dubrow, now playing striker, at the top of the box.  Dubrow slammed the ball to the post to his left for the tally at the 58:01 mark.  Finally, the team struck one last time with only 38 seconds left to play when Kremin—moved to the sweeper spot—cleared a ball out of the defensive end from close to the centerfield line up into the Jefferson box.  Dubrow rushed the keeper who was unable to maintain control of the ball under that pressure.  Dubrow was able to pick up the deflection and quickly powered it home into the empty net.  Bernier and Kremin combined with Dubrow to record the shutout, the fifth of the season.  LCS will be in action again in the quarterfinals on Monday as they continue their quest to defend their championship title.

            Showing a distinct degree of somnolence, the Lynx of Lincolnville were largely outplayed by the Hope eleven before revving up in the second half to win 4 to 1 on Wednesday, October 4th, at the Lincolnville pitch.  The win kept LCS as the only remaining undefeated, untied team in the league and also nailed down undisputed possession of first seed for the playoffs for the Lynx.  The strong and highly skilled Hope squad jumped out to a very quick lead at the 47 second mark with a ball brought up on the left, then squeaked a shot in just past the near post, putting the Lynx behind for the only time this season.  The Hawks continued with a very aggressive style of play and dominated the possession statistics including forcing LCS keeper Matt Kremin to squelch a very dangerous through pass with an impressive sliding save at 13:07.  While Hope kept intensive pressure up throughout the half, the Lynx began to come alive with about 15 minutes gone, and play was much more even from then on.  LCS managed to tie the game at 27:56 when a scrum developed in Hope’s box with the ball bouncing around and no clear possession being established until it finally squirted out to midfielder Jack Fishman near the top of the box.  He took one dribble to improve his view of the goal and then slammed it home.

            Lincolnville came out much stronger in the second half, taking an early lead at 31:40 when winger Jackson Bernier received a punt from Kremin just over midfield, fought for possession of it before breaking free to run the left sideline, cut in to his right when challenged, and launched a lovely shot to beat the Hope keeper to the back post to gain some necessary breathing room.  Even so, the Hawks did not relent.  The result was a very evenly played half with multiple challenging tries at both ends of the field.  Frankly, the Lynx were kept in the game by the fine play of Kremin in the goal who controlled his box very well and proved unbreakable on long distance shots. Lincolnville’s insurance goal came 23 minutes later when Bernier sent a great feed to midfielder Kara Andrews, who also ran the left sideline before sending in a pass to striker Griffin Dubrow who finished the play with a strong punch into the net.  A combination between Bernier and Fishman put the icing on the kick when Fishman fed Bernier on the left.  After a quick dribble, Bernier returned the ball to Fishman at the top of the box.  Fishman bounced a shot off a defender, gathered up the rebound, and sunk his second shot to end the scoring.

            Both sides played extremely well all game.  On the Lincolnville side, the defense was once again anchored by Emmit Dayhoof at sweeper who broke up many a Hope drive, supported by John Pessara at stopper, and Lincoln Outerbridge and Lili Clement at wing defense.  Except for the first minute, they all did a fine job of containing the Hawks’ potent offense.  Filling the midfield slots were Andrews, Fishman, and a combination of Jaden Johnson and Aiden Aselton whose hustle allowed them to effectively support both offensive and defensive efforts.  Finally, Mason Clark did an excellent job at the right winger position sending a number of accurate passes into his line mates.  LCS will end its season on Thursday, October 12th, at Jefferson.

            On a beautiful day for a boat ride, the Lincolnville eleven traveled to Islesboro to notch their seventh consecutive win by a score of 5 to 0 on Wednesday, October 2nd.  It took a little while for the powerful LCS offense to find its pace on a field that runs downhill from goal to goal, but striker Matt Kremin begin the scoring by intercepting an Islesboro goal kick on the right, taking a single dribble to set up his shot and punching the ball home just inside the far post with 9:44 elapsed.  Just over nine minutes later, midfielder Jack Fishman sent a pass up the middle into the box that found Kremin on the right—courtesy of a bounce off a defender—and Kremin again tucked the ball inside the far post for the tally.  Then at the 27:21 mark, winger Jackson Bernier dribbled his way into scoring distance in the box and uncorked a fine shot that was blocked by a defender’s hand.  Jack Fishman lined up the ensuing penalty kick and sent it home to the keeper’s right.

            It took just over nine minutes again at the start of the second half before the Lynx got untracked, but then Bernier fed Kremin who promptly bounced a shot off a defender.  Kremin corralled the rebound and drove it past the keeper for his third score of the game.  Finally Roo Boetsch controlled a ball in the middle near the nets with 41:34 gone and sent the ball into the back of the net for the final goal of the game.

            The score did not at all reflect the quality of the Islesboro booters’ play.  They did an excellent job keeping the LCS offense under control for the first 10 minutes of each half and staged a number of challenging threats in the LCS end.  In fact, they earned a penalty kick themselves on a push in the box with about 15 seconds left, but Bernier, now playing in goal, robbed them with a nice save that preserved the shutout.  The Lynx face the Hope squad, tied for second with Bristol, on Wednesday, October 4th, at Lincolnville, in a game that promises to be a thriller.

            It was another bright sunny day for the Lincolnville eleven in more ways than one as they defeated the St. George Dragons at St. George 4 to 0 on Friday, September 29.  The Lynx rapidly took the lead with a goal in 40 seconds when midfielder Emmit Dayhoof lofted a free kick from the right into the middle of the Dragon’s box to find striker Griffin Dubrow who quickly one touched it into the goal.  That was followed at the 4:35 mark when winger Jackson Bernier put on a dribbling exhibition starting at center field, drove the entire offensive end and completed the play with a nice finishing shot.  It was Bernier again, this time on a feed from Mason Clark, with a pretty shot with 12:06 gone.  The scoring for the day was finished on an unassisted drive by winger Mateo LaChance who drove through the middle of the defense to break free.  The keeper managed a nice save on LaChance’s first shot, but LaChance picked up the rebound and punched it into the nets.

            The second half played much more evenly as the spunky Dragons refused to give up.  There were many good tries by both sides, and a fascinating duel developed between St. George’s highly skilled striker and LCS’s equally skilled sweeper, Matt Kremin.  In essence it ended up with equal honors for both players.  Lincolnville plays their next game on Monday, October 2nd, at Islesboro. 

            The Lynx of Lincolnville took advantage of another beautiful, albeit warm, day to turn back the challenge of the Camden Schooners 6th grade 5 to 1 at Camden on Wednesday, September 27th.  The Camden team was quite skilled and moved the ball very well throughout the game, and the score was more a reflection of the age differential than the skill levels of the players.  Were it not for a great two-part sliding save by keeper Griffin Dubrow, the Schooners would have gotten on the board first. In addition, the fact that the Schooners held the powerful Lynx offense scoreless for almost 16 minutes is illustrative of their capabilities.  But the Lynx finally broke through when winger Jackson Bernier, who is currently averaging three scoring points per game, intercepted an errant Camden goal kick, took a quick dribble to set up his shot and powered it home.  Bernier played the feeder role on the next score with 17:19 gone, catching striker Matt Kremin moving to his right across the top of the box.  Kremin deftly trapped the ball on the fly and then cut his ball towards the near post for the score.  Then, 2-and-a-half minutes later, midfielder Jack Fishman sent a long ball from just short of centerfield up toward Kremin.  Kremin alertly snagged the ball off of a defender’s trap, drove past the defense, and sent the ball flying past the near post.  Final, at 22:11, Bernier earned his third point of the game by feeding a slick pass from the right to Fishman breaking through the middle.  Fishman controlled it and lost no further time before hammering the ball home.  Camden then got on the boards with a quick drive up the middle at the 26:56 point.

            The second half was relatively evenly played with many tries by both sides.  The only score of the half came at 32:22, notched by Dubrow, now playing striker, on a feed from mid-fielder Emmit Dayhoof.  Camden had an achingly close miss when a midfielder launched a strong kick from the left well outside the box and caromed it off the crossbar. 

There were too many contributors to this game to list them all by name, but a nod should go to Dubrow, Bernier, and Cole Freeman for sharing goaltending duties.  LCS will be back in action this Friday at St. George as they continue their championship defense.

            On a steamy, sultry day on the Lincolnville pitch, the home team Lynx were able to hold off a strong and determined Bristol squad by a score of 4 to 3 on Monday, September 25.  While Lincolnville never trailed—and even held a two-goal lead in the second half until the 58 minute mark, the Bristol eleven simply refused to be put away.  The game was evenly played throughout, and Bristol made the first serious try at 3 minutes forcing LCS keeper Matt Kremin to deflect a hard drive over the goal from point blank range.  It took until the 15:41 mark before the Lynx finally got on the board on a very pretty corner kick by midfielder Jack Fishman to winger Jackson Bernier in open space in the box just past the penalty spot.  Bernier smoothly one-touched the ball back to the near post for the tally.  About eight minutes later, Bristol evened the score with a drive up the middle that split the LCS defense.  Keeper Kremin had no chance on the ensuing shot.  It did not stay tied for long.  With three minutes left in the half, 

midfielder Mason Clark found Bernier with a nice pass to left center outside of the box, and Bernier let lose a shot through the defense to the far post to beat the keeper.  The half ended with LCS up by one.

Once again, the lead was short lived; at 30:54, Bristol was able to convert a corner kick for the tie, only to be quickly down again when Bernier feed Kremin, now playing striker.  Kremin dribbled to open space to his left and nailed a long hard shot to the upper back corner of the net, a perfectly lovely shot.  Bristol came back strongly and came close at the 46 minute mark on a loose ball in the box after a well-kicked corner that forced keeper Griffin Dubrow to save it twice, ending by falling on the ball just before a Bristol forward reached it.  That was followed at 50:39 by a hands ball called between 25 to 30 yards straight out from the Bristol goal.  Fishman lined his shot up and sent it over the keeper’s outstretched hands for the insurance goal.  Dubrow had another fine save deflecting a strong shot from his left by Bristol’s best forward.  LCS’s insurance disappeared seven minute later with a Bristol breakaway that brought them back to within one with only two minutes left to play.  As if the game had not been exciting enough, an illegal passback to the keeper was called in the LCS box with 15 seconds left resulting in an indirect kick only five yards away from the goal.  With the entire LCS team in the goal on the end line, Bristol tried a quick touch and kick play, but the kick was too slow, and an unknown LCS hero blocked the shot, and another cleared the ball out of the box as the game ended.

            The play on both sides was outstanding.  For Lincolnville, in addition to the players already mentioned, Jaden Johnson, Mikayla Talbot, and Myah Hansen put in s number of fine minutes in the forward line.  Dubrow also put in a strong showing during the first half at striker before moving back to play keeper in the second.  Kara Andrews and Aiden Aselton were highly effective at the midfield positions, and the defensive team of Lili Clement, Lincoln Outerbridge, John Pessara, and Emmit Dayhoof played exceedingly well against a challenging Bristol offensive unit.  LCS continues its quest to defend its championship on Wednesday, September 27th at Camden against Camden 6.

            The Lynx took another step towards a successful championship defense on Wednesday, September 20, by defeating the Appleton Wildcats 5 to 0 after the end of the tropical storm inspired rains at Lincolnville.  The Wildcats deserve a great deal of credit because with two missing players, they were down to only one sub on the bench.  Playing a full game on a warm day with almost no substitutes is enough to wear anyone down, and they maintained a high level of effort throughout the game despite that stressor.

            Lincolnville got off to an early scoring start, and as has happened in both the prior games the Lynx have played this year, it was once again winger Jackson Bernier getting the credit.  The ball started with midfielder Jack Fishman sending a long pass to striker Griffin Dubrow on the right side.  Dubrow quickly lofted the ball into Bernier who was all alone in the box off of the far post.  Bernier then popped a looping shoot over Appleton’s tall keeper to net the tally at 2:44 minutes.  Five minutes later, Fishman sent another excellent feed to Bernier in the middle of the box, with the same end result: the ball tickling the back of the net.  Appleton fought back hard and held the Lynx in check for 13 minutes, when Dubrow corralled a ball on the right side of the field and sent a lead pass in for Bernier who had to race the keeper for the ball.  Bernier won, and slid the ball smoothly by the charging keeper to the back post for his third goal of the game.  Both teams played relatively evenly for the final 10 minutes of the half.

            The even play continued at the beginning of the second half until striker Matt Kremin intercepted a Wildcat pass and laid off to—who else—Bernier, who quickly converted it for his fourth goal of the game.  Again, play evened off for awhile until midfielder Emmit Dayhoof put on a dribbling exhibition just outside the center of the Appleton box before feeding the ball to the right to winger Jaden Johnson.  Johnson drove hard around the defense, curled towards the goal, and, faced with a charging keeper, calmly punched it just inside of the far post for the final tally of the game.

            As always, midfielders Kara Andrews and Aiden Aselton provided excellent support for the strong Lynx offense.  In addition, defenders Dayhoof, John Pessara, Lili Clement, and Lincoln Outerbridge did a superb job of blunting Appleton’s offensive thrusts.  Finally, keepers Kremin, Dubrow, and Cole Freeman combined to achieve the shutout, the second of the year so far for the Lynx.  Lincolnville continues its campaign for another title on Monday, September 25th, against Bristol on the LCS pitch.

            Having had a porpoise escort over to Vinalhaven for good luck in the dense fog, it was almost a forgone conclusion that Lincolnville would have a good day on the pitch.  As it turned out, the Lynx were able to emerge victorious against the scrappy Vikings by a score of 4 to 0. The Lynx did manage to get on the scoreboard early with a strike at the 2 minute mark when midfielder Kara Andrews received a pass in the open from defender Emitt Dayhoof.  She quickly converted it into a lovely oblique pass crossing from left to right above the box which winger Jackson Bernier picked up on the fly and then cut his shot back to the far post for the score.  That was quickly followed by several strong Vinalhaven rives into the LCS defensive end, but then the Lynx began to dominate the play.  It took another seven minutes for LCS to strike again, and it came when Bernier intercepted a Viking goal kick, took a quick dribble to set up his shot, and then hammered it home inside the post to his right.  Another minute saw Bernier feed midfielder Jack Fishman on the left side of the goal.  Fishman promptly launched an arcing shot over both defense and keeper for the third tally of the half.  At that point, the Vikings staged a rally, and neither side scored for the balance of the half.

            The second half saw quite a bit of seesaw play with the possession going back and forth.  The only score came at the 43 minute mark when Fishman launched a corner kick in to striker Griffin Dubrow who quickly one touched the ball into the open back side of the net.

Both teams are to be complimented for the fine play and sportsmanship exhibited.  On the defensive end of things, LCS standouts that should be noted included Matt Kremin, who played a fine half at keeper and followed it up with an outstanding performance anchoring the defense at sweeper during the second half.  John Pessara showed his usual aggressive style of play at the stopper position, and was nicely supported by wing defenders Lili Clement and Lincoln Outerbridge.  The LCS eleven will be back in play this Wednesday against Appleton at home.

            The Lynx of Lincolnville, setting out to defend a championship title for the second fall in a row, got started with a bang with a win over Nobleboro on Monday, September 11, on a beautiful sunny day in Lincolnville.  Despite a seemingly lopsided score of 6 to 1, a lot of the game was quite competitive with a Nobleboro squad that is improving every year putting in a solid effort against a strong LCS eleven.  The first 10 minutes were scoreless, although the Lynx did have a possession advantage.  Then at the 10.21 mark, midfielder Kara Andrews sent a strong kick to open space down the left side of the field which winger Jackson Bernier ran down, beat a following defender, and then sent a kick inside the near post that caromed off of the keeper’s hands for the tally.  Nobleboro came back and received a free kick with 16 minutes gone about eight yards outside of the LCS box.  A fine shot ensued, but LCS keeper Griffin Dubrow made a fine diving save to push the ball around the post.  It took another five minutes before midfielder Jack Fishman found striker Matt Kremin with a corner kick that Kremin promptly converted into a score.  A minute later, Fishman stole the ball from a Lions player and drove in hard on the right side of the goal to set up a point blank shot that the keeper had no chance of reaching.  The balance of the half was played reasonably evenly.

            The second half started with a fine drive by the Nobleboro eleven at the 33 minute mark that was finished by a quick dash on the right side of the goal, but Kremin, now playing in goal, made a nice diving save to maintain the shutout.  LCS struck back with 42 minutes played when Nobleboro committed an infraction about halfway into their defensive end.  Fishman set up the free kick and sent a nice fed to Bernier who was open in the box just to the left of the center of the goal.  Bernier one touched it with the outside of his right foot to the far post to cleanly beat the keeper who was following the line of the original kick.  A mere four minutes later, Fishman sent another assist to Dubrow—now playing striker—which Dubrow quickly converted for the tally.  LCS closed out its scoring with only five minutes left with a punt by keeper Kremin which Dubrow corralled and turned into a scorching shot to beat the keeper again.  Once again, a stretch of fairly even play ensued until the game Nobleboro squad, who never once gave up, took advantage of a defensive error to break in alone on Kremin and beat him with a well placed shot at the 59 minute mark.

            In addition to the strong offensive punch provided by LCS’s forwards and midfielders, the Lynx defense, consisting of wing Ds Lili Clement and Lincoln Outerbridge, stopper John Pessara, and Emmit Dayhoof, did a superb job all game long.  They skillfully worked their defensive rotation which allowed them to turn aside many a Nobleboro drive without harm and transitioned the ball to the offensive unit well when needed.  Lincolnville will continue its title defense against St. George in St. George this Friday, 9/15.