BETHEL – After 40 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Telstar boys were pretty exasperated.

So their coach simply tried to calm them down at halftime.

“We had that mentality where we know we can score early and maybe got out there the first couple of minutes and got the opportunities and didn’t score, and they started getting frustrated,” said Telstar coach Tim Remington. “Then they didn’t do the things that we’ve worked on. So I was telling them Relax. Relax. Relax. Let’s go into the second half and work on some different things’. They did it and came out with the goals.”

The Rebels struck three times in the second half to beat Livermore Falls, 3-0. Ross Parker had a goal and two assists while Stephen Scotti and Blake Conrad each added goals. Terry Collins had the shutout in goal for the Rebels (3-2).

“We felt like we didn’t come out fired up,” said Parker. “We’re more of a second half team anyway. The Hall-Dale game, we were 0-0 at the half there too and put two in in the second half.”

Livermore Falls’ gritty defensive effort had the game tied, but the Andies (0-5) couldn’t muster the offensive counter needed. With just 13 players and five freshmen and one sophomore in the starting lineup, the second 40 minutes have been a challenge.

“We’re young up front,” said Livermore Falls coach Larry Thornton. “Charles (Lake) and Corey Flagg lead that charge. We had them frustrated, I think, in the first half. We had some transition in the first half. With teams like that, we had them reeling a little bit, and we could have scored a few times, and that’s when we’ve got to put those teams like that away. That’s that killer instinct that Livermore Falls has to get. Our kids have never had that here.”

Telstar outshot the Andies 10-1 in the first half and had quality chances but couldn’t beat keeper Matt Labbe. Conrad had a high shot that Labbe stretched out for. Labbe also stopped Ryan Savage on a breakaway late in the half.

The Andies best bid came on a Flagg shot that came off a Zach Keene rush up the middle.

Telstar found a little more patience up front and cashed in. Just 1:55 into the half, Parker beat two defenders and got the ball in front where Scotti put it home.

“The first one makes it a lot easier,” said Parker. “After that, the second and third come naturally.”

Parker scored with 22:47 left. With a defender on his back, he turned and fired from in front. Then with 12:13 remaining, Parker teamed up with Conrad on a give-and-go.

“I think we were a little more comfortable, not so anxious,” said Parker. “The first half I think we were putting too much pressure on ourselves to get a goal in the first five minutes, and we got a little frustrated when we didn’t do that.”

Livermore got a second half direct kick from Flagg on net, but couldn’t find the offense needed to pressure the Rebels midfield and defense. Despite having some momentum at the half, the Andies couldn’t build on it.

“We talked about that at halftime,” said Thornton. “It’s been happening a lot because we’ve been in games at halftime, and we knew teams were going to come out fired up because we’re not supposed to be there with them.”