SUNAPEE, N.H. – Both the Sunapee boys and girls hosted their senior games on Wednesday evening against Moultonborough, and both squad’s seniors walked away smiling, with the Laker boys winning 5-1 and the girls followed that up with a 6-0 victory.
The boys improve to 12-3 and the girls are now 15-1, both playing their final games of the regular season on Friday. The boys will host Wilton at 4 p.m. Following that will be the highly anticipated matchup of the Sunapee girls hosting Stevens.
Boys: Sunapee 5, Moultonborough 1
For the boys, seniors Lane Smith, Matt Nangeroni, Gabe Hastings, Brendan Kelleher, and Liam Gurney were all honored before the game.
On a wet, cold, and muddy surface, Sunapee’s first goal was scored in the tenth minute when Lane Smith crossed a ball into the goal mouth and it deflected into the net off a Moultonborough defender. In the 37th minute, Michael Mullen served a pass to Jackson Cooney who broke through the defense and shot and scored. Moultonborough collected on a miss kick by the Sunapee keeper three minutes later to pull the Panthers within one at the half, 2-1.
In the second half, Lakers senior defender Jake Austin scored on a Parker Reed corner kick just 2 minutes in on a shot that rolled all the way across the goal line before finding the net. Reed had a second assist to Mullen two and a half minutes later, and Cooney dropped in the last goal late in the game.
“Although we played a little sloppy at times, we also did some nice things,” said Lakers head coach Jack Iacopino. “We combined our passes at times… creating some nice goals.”
Girls: Sunapee 6, Moultonborough 0
The Sunapee girls followed the boys’ act, winning at home on senior night, paced by senior Marybeth Groton’s 4 goals. Abigail Pollari finished the night with 2 goals and an assist, and Silvia Dalton added the only other assist on the night.
“We struggled with their trap,” said Sunapee head coach Myles Cooney. “We don’t see that a lot and it gave us some headaches and certainly disrupted our rhythm….not to mention the slick conditions on the field. I give Moultonborough a lot of credit, they outworked us in portions of the game… we answered the bell finally in the second half and scored four in the second frame behind better intensity and better purpose. Our brand of soccer has to start from the back… and include everyone moving and working hard to find success.”
The Sunapee girls finish their season in a local tilt with Stevens.
When asked about the matchup after the Cardinals’ game Wednesday night, Stevens head coach Tom Belaire said, “[Sunapee] is very good and a well-coached team. Every game is important to us so I expect Friday’s game to be a good one.”
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