“I thought it was going over the whole time,” said Hall-Dale’s senior defender.

But something happened on Stebbins’ simple boot out of the defensive zone. As his shot from midfield made its way toward the goal, a reality grew that this shot had a chance to go in. With the keeper forward of the net and ample space in between, Stebbins’ shot found that sweet spot, where it nicked the crossbar and deflected into the net.

Stebbins’ only goal of the season proved to be the difference as Hall-Dale beat Monmouth 2-1 in a battle of the two top seeds in Class C South.

“We wanted to get the No. 1 seed,” said Hall-Dale coach Andy Haskell, whose team jumped into the top spot with the win. “NYA and Waynflete  are great teams, especially Waynflete. They’re probably one of the best teams in the state. We wanted to maximize our points and try to solidify a spot in the Mountain Valley Conference championship game. That’s one of our goals. So the kids knew  if we were going to get where we want to, we had to go through Monmouth.”

The loss ended a streak of 10 straight wins for the Mustangs (10-2). Monmouth had lost the season opener but won every game until Saturday.

“The kids are dejected, but we’ll fight through this,” Monmouth coach Joe Fletcher said.

The game-winner came with 28:52 left in regulation. It was a seemingly harmless boot from across midfield in the Bulldogs’ defensive zone. Few, including Stebbins and Monmouth keeper Bradley Neal, probably thought it had a chance to go in.

“I wasn’t planning on that going in,” said Stebbins, whose only other goal came as a sophomore in a 9-0 win over Oak Hill. “I was just trying to clear it out. It just hit the right spot.”

It had been a back-and-forth, fast-pace game up to that point, but neither team could break the stalemate. Once Hall-Dale (9-0-2) got the lead, that’s all its defense needed.

“Both teams had all kinds of chances,” Fletcher said. “They played good defense, especially when they got that lead. They packed it in and made it real difficult. It’s hard to score when you have 10 kids behind the ball.”

Monmouth had a couple of chances late in the game but couldn’t finish. Following a corner, Nick Sanborn was near a loose ball but couldn’t get a shot before a Bulldog defender cleared it. Sanborn had another chance late in the game off a free kick. The ball bounced off a defender towards Sanborn, but keeper Andy Peterson smothered it before any shot was taken.

“There were four opportunities inside the six that should have at least been hit at the goalie but we didn’t get a foot on it,” Fletcher said.

Hall-Dale’s defense was stellar in front of Peterson. The senior keeper had five saves but had some help. The Bulldogs had about four Mustang opportunities cleared from harm by defenders. Neal finished with six saves.

“We were worried about their quickness,” said Haskell, noting the talents of Avery Pomerleau, Hunter Richardson and Gage Cote. “Our defense stood tall. Peterson made some big saves, and (Jett) Boyer took the ball off the line. You’re going to have those moments in games. The defense rose up like it has the last five years.”

Hall-Dale had a quick start and was led up front by  Tyler Nadeau. He did a nice job putting pressure on the defense. Monmouth did a good job countering, even thought he Mustangs were missing midfielder Chandler Harris to an injury.

“We’ve talked about this game as one of our focal point games,” Haskell said. “The guys were very focused today. We’ve been playing really good soccer the last couple of weeks. We came out very determined. I thought we carried the play.”

The two teams could meet again in the Mountain Valley Conference championship game or in the C South tourney. Hall-Dale beat Mountain Valley in the conference game last year before losing in the Western C final.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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