By CHRISTPHER SHABAN
Eagle Times sports
LACONIA —Sunapee’s bid to grab back to back state titles didn’t turn out the way the Lakers had hoped as the #1 seeded Newmarket Mules were looking to avenge last years loss. “ We had this date circled on our calender’s” said Mules head coach Nate Dowst.
Sunapee grabbed their first ever boys state crown last year at the expense of Newmarket and the Mules returned the favor today with an iron clad defense ending Sunapee’s season with a 2-0 loss.
Sunapee opened the game with an upset on their minds as Darren Hulton’s 30 yard blast was on net and a flick from Jackson Cooney had eyes for a goal but the Mules Colby Foster came to play today and made a great save. Parker Reed made an outstanding sliding tackle and a nifty over the top pass to Mike Mullen but the Mules defenders swallowed up Mullen and snuffed out his bid. Reed collided hard with Foster but both got up as the Sunapee chances were coming.
On a counter attack, Keenen Mills found himself with a point blank shot on the Lakers keeper Sean Moynihan and his goal put the Mules up 1-0 at 14:10 of the first half. Cooney looked to grab an equalizer and broke hard on net as Ben Ernest slid in and cut off Cooney’s run. “ They are an incredibly fast team and the defenders are probably the best I’ve seen in a long time” said Sunapee coach Jack Iacopino after the game.
Sunapee’s midfield area patrolled by Mathew Tschudin and stopper Darren Hulton drove the ball into the corners but the lightning fast Newmarket defenders were quick to the ball and covered space very well. One of the prettiest goals of the year came when a cross by Nick Berthiaume from deep in the corner found the head of Amar Phobaykham on the far post to give the Mules a 2-0 lead after 4o minutes.
“ Some days the soccer ball bounces your way and some days it doesn’t, today wasn’t our day but we’ll be back” said Iacopino as the next 40 minutes was a clinic in defensive soccer as Newmarket just didn’t make any mistakes and kept the ball in front of them for the remainder of the game as Newmarket closed out the day with a solid 2-0 win.
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