MONMOUTH – The Monmouth Mustangs haven’t found a sniper yet. Saturday they got by without one.

By taking away time and space, the Mustangs used constant pressure to down the Dirigo Cougars 2-0 in the season opener for both teams.

“Today we went to the ball,” said Monmouth coach Gary Trafton.

“We had pressure and that was our goal.”

Andy Bellmore’s first half goal staked the Mustangs to a 1-0 halftime lead and Sean Holbrook added an insurance score.

Shane Kibler threaded a pass down the middle to a streaking Bellmore for a breakaway.

Dirigo keeper Lenny Hall (12 saves) aggressively dove out and Bellmore touched the ball into the lower right-hand corner.

“I saw the ball slip through two defenders,” said Bellmore. “I watched for (Hall) to come out. When I saw him go down I just put it into the corner.”

Hall staved off an earlier flurry with a pair of hand saves in heavy traffic.

The remainder of the first half was filled with point blank chances for the Mustangs. On one, Chris Eldridge made a nifty move on a Dirigo fullback but his shot from 20 feet out resulted in an easy catch for Hall.

Holbrook also had an opportunity when left unmarked to the left of the cage.

As the ball bounced free toward him, he misfired and his shot sailed wide.

“We’re just not real sharpshooters,” said Trafton. “We missed on some shots. At least we had the opportunities.”

“We went to the ball hard,” added Bellmore. “We were more aggressive today than in the preseason. That created a lot of opportunities for us.”

Holbrook did cash in at the 1:34 mark of the second half. Ryan Buckley collected a Cougar turnover and chipped a pass downfield to the speedy Holbrook who fired a shot past Hall.

Monmouth would later be thwarted by Hall as Buckley from the top of the box.

The leaping Hall just got a hand on the ball to deflect it over the crossbar.

“He’s good,” said first-year Dirigo coach Matt Brooks. “We have two keepers and he got the start today. He stepped it up and none of the goals were his fault.”

Dirigo only put four shots on goal, but Monmouth keeper Kyle Pelletier was never really tested.

“I knew the offense was going to be weak,” said Brooks. “It’s something we’re going to continue to work on. I was looking at (this match) as a tool to see where we are and how far we need to go.”