By The Beacon Sports Staff

The men’s and women’s soccer teams have been active on the pitch since the last Beacon, combining for a below-50-percent winning average, grabbing five wins while tallying eight losses. The men broke into the win column in the Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) standings with a 13-1 thrashing of Hampshire College in Saturday’s action at South Portland’s Wainwright Recreation Complex. Prior to the men’s win, the ladies would start the day off on a solid note, putting Hampshire College away with a 9-to-nil win.

A second less than the 8-minute mark, Emily Harris broke into the scoring book with her first goal of her YSCC career. Her shot from outside the box ruffled the back of the net on a free kick, marking her first goal as a SeaWolf.

Five other SeaWolves would ruffle the netting with their first goals of the season. Callie O’Brien would net three goals on that day; Cassidy Harriman would contribute two goals.

Nina Frasca, Madelyn Wade and Shae Couture would round out the scoring for the SeaWolves, flipping the big-board numbers at the 65:14, 75:48 and 89:26 marks, respectively. Shae Couture, who tended the net for the SeaWolves, would face a quiet day in goal, turning away two shots. Her counterpart, Lea Sweeney, would face 19 shots on goal, inhibiting 10 from crossing the goal line.

Prior to Saturday’s match, the Lady ‘Wolves won away games against Central Maine Community College (CMCC), 5-1, and Paul Smith, 4-0. Their lone loss was to the Lynx of New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI) in Concord, NH, 2-1.

After the loss in Concord, Head Coach Julia Cyr commented, that matches between the Lynx and the SeaWolves are “always competitive.” SMCC, she said, showed “relentlessness in battling from behind and playing with more urgency then we have all season.”

In the YSCC standings, the Lady ‘Wolves occupy second place with a 4-1 conference record. NHTI sits atop the standings with a 5-0-1 conference record. Unity College is right on the Lady ‘Wolves’ heels with a 3-1 record, and CMCC follows with a 2-3 record.

On the men’s side of the pitch, the season has not panned out as fruitfully as might have been expected. Hopefully Saturday’s action will help to right the course the ‘Wolves have been on and they are able to finish the regular season strong heading into YSCC postseason play. Currently, they sit in eighth place out of a nine-team field. Hampshire College holds the foundation with a winless record of 0 to 3.

The SeaWolves have three conference games remaining: CMCC on the 28th at Wainwright fields, at Unity College on Oct. 5 and at home on the 14th when they host the University of Maine-Machias. Considering that SMCC is only two wins behind the College of St. Joseph of Vermont, who hold a 3-0 conference record, and that there are five teams with two wins (UMaine-Machias has compiled a 3-0-1 record), running the tables against the conference teams seems imperative, as the top four teams will compete in this year’s YSCC soccer tournament in Concord.

In Saturday’s action against Hampshire College, the SeaWolves responded brilliantly after spotting Hampshire an early goal. At the 10:54 mark, Hampshire’s Ethan Haut would catch the SeaWolves napping, breaking towards goal with an in-bounds throw-in, catching the crossbar on his shot and ricocheting into the back of the net.

The ‘Wolves would get on the big board a few seconds more than six minutes later with a deflected shot from Jonathan Lipika. After SMCC evened the score on the big board, the SeaWolves would find the back of the net 13 times more. Senal Yanie would ruffle the netting three times, while Kolin Wyman and Kervens Antoine would net two goals apiece. Gradi Lipika, William Sutton, Hanssen Casey, Yaroslav Philbrook and Romain Cole would also net goals.

On a side note, The Beacon would like to congratulate Callie O’Brien, SMCC’s first-year forward on the SeaWolves team, for being named an Athlete of the Week on Sept. 22. O’Brien has found the back of the net 6 times this season and has totaled 13 points, which places her second in conference rankings. Callie also scored a hat trick against CMCC in the SeaWolves’ 5-1 win in Auburn.