By Sam Coombs

Women’s:  Girls Soccer drop first game

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME- In the first action of the season, the SMCC girls’ soccer team matched up against a talented Dean College team in a home matchup on Saturday. The Seawolves battled throughout this game with strong play from their freshmen who played in their first action for SMCC. The Seawolves would eventually fall 2-0 in this game.

Defensively, the Seawolves looked pretty strong in the first half and stayed competitive throughout the whole contest. They didn’t give up a goal until the 36^th minute. Unfortunately they had few opportunities offensively with freshmen Katy Cyr finishing with the most shots (4) for the Seawolves.

Possession of the ball was the biggest problem in the game for the Seawolves which resulted in them only having nine shots as a team to Dean’s 30. SMCC Freshmen goalie Aime Worchester (Naples, ME) finished with a strong first performance tallying 2 saves in net. Dean was led by Alyssa Klotzbeecher and Rachel Mauricio who each finished with a goal.

Girls Soccer with bounce back victory, 1-0

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME- Not far into the first half did the Lady Seawolves soccer team have their first lead of the season over Vermont Tech. The goal came by Zyrah Giustra unassisted to the right corner of the net to take the early 1-0 lead. That lead would stand the rest of the game and would result in being the final.

Defensivly, the Seawolves played tough, not allowing the ball to be in their zone too often. Aime Worchester made 10 saves in the game to lead SMCC in goal. SMCC finished with 27 total shots as they were on attack from much of the game. The Seawolves record on the season is 1-1 and will face Hampshire College in their next game.

Vermont Tech was led by Jasmine Whitman with seven shots and Laura Flint in goal with 15 saves.

Men’s

SMCC men’s soccer loses to talented Dean College

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME- The SMCC boys faced one of their toughest opponents to start the season, playing the Bulldogs of Dean College. Defensively, SMCC has a young group which put together a good effort however Dean’s offense, possession and foot skills would be too much to handle as the Bulldogs went on to win convincingly 7-0 in this home opener.

SMCC freshmen goalie Spencer Hoyt finished the game with 6 saves and Wadhah Al-Shammari had three shots. Dean was led by Javan Phillip who had three goals, Filipe Freitas with two goals and Marcos Tavares also with two. This was a good test for the Seawolves and will help them in the long run as the season progresses. The Seawolves drop to 0-1-0 and will face Bridgton Academy in their next contest.

Spencer Hoyts 27 saves not enough

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME- In the second contest for the men’s soccer team, SMCC would try to rally behind the effort of Goalie Spencer Hoyt who was making save after save for the Seawolves. Despite all those saves, SMCC would lose their second game of the season to Bridgton Academy 3-0 droppin to 0-2-0 on the season.

SMCC moved the ball well in this game but had few opportunities to score. They were led in shots by Quentin Ndayishimiye who attacked Bridgton in their defensive zone. In these first two games it has been a struggle offensively for the Seawolves as they are still eager to get their first goal. “We need to increase our one-two touch game and make all our passes quicker and more precise said Xavier Trask (Richmond, ME). “We need to work hard as a team to increase our level of play,” said Trask. SMCC is looking to come back from these two losses as a team as the season progresses. “Our Expectations for this season are to win as many games as possible,” said Evan Meiller (Saco, ME).

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME- The SMCC men’s soccer team found themselves leading late in a game against Vermont Tech on a goal from SMCC’s Sean Jackson who hit from 30 yards out. Vermont Tech didn’t score until the 71^st minute of the game on a header from Matthew Brein. Quickly after, Vermont Tech scored again taking the lead away from the Seawolves and eventually winning 2-1.

The Seawolves showed some strides of improvement in this game holding a lead for the majority of the contest. SMCC goalie Spencer Hoyt finished with eight saves and defensively the Seawolves played hard all game. The Seawolves drop to 0-3-0 with this loss and are slated to play Hampshire College next.