Lisbon’s Noah Austin (13) fends off Wiscasset’s Matt Martin (6) during a boys’ soccer clash at Lisbon on Friday. Austin scored a goal as the Greyhounds rolled to a 7-0 victory.

LISBON — Lisbon High School boys’ soccer coach Dan Sylvester preached to his team the importance of starting quickly in Friday’s Mountain Valley Conference home match with Wiscasset.

Then, he watched his team deliver.

The Greyhounds darted out to a 5-0 halftime lead and didn’t look back, rolling to a 7-0 win and a 4-0-1 mark to start the season.

Lisbon fans arriving late on Friday missed Noah Austin and Cam Poisson team up twice for a 2-0 edge. Poisson finished an Austin pass just 5:41 in, and Austin completed a feed form Poisson at 11:03.

“The start was important, especially after we had a couple slow starts recently,” said Austin, who picked up a second assist when Poisson scored with 14:39 remaining in the first half for a 3-0 Lisbon lead. “I love playing with Cam. Nick (Austin) is playing behind us, and we are able to rotate the ball inside. It is working well so far.”

“We switched it up as Nick (Austin) was up top, and I decided to push Nick back and move Noah (Austin) up,” Sylvester said. “Those moves are working so we will roll with it. Noah is the type of kid that I can put anywhere, and Cam will stay up high. He has come a long way and has a great touch around the net.”

Goals keep coming

Lisbon continued to roll in the first half. Just 56 seconds after Poisson’s second goal, Ben LeClair stole a clear from Wolverines netminder Sam Strozier (10 saves) and scored into an empty net for a 4-0 edge.

With five minutes left until halftime, a foul inside the 18 gave the Greyhounds a penalty kick. Goaltender Jonah Sautter jogged the length of the field and slipped the penalty try inside the right post for a 5-0 halftime lead.

Lisbon came out in the second half looking to possess the ball, something the Greyhounds accomplished as DJ Douglass, Steve Martin, Glenn Hill and Nick Austin controlled the play for the hosts.

“We are still trying to clean up our game,” Sylvester said. “There was a big difference between the first and second half. In the second half, we were really connecting with our passes and possessing. It was nice to get those touches.”

Sylvester feels his team will need to possess more to have success against the MVC powers later this season.

“We need to work on our possession, something that we have preached since the beginning,” said the coach. “Against good teams, we are not going to score this many goals. It will be about set pieces and locking down on defense. However, we are finding some opportunities offensively, more so then last year.”

The score allowed Cossette to experiment with his lineup.

“The deficit gave us a chance to work on our backline. I felt our front did well and were able to get some shots on goal in the first half. We just needed to execute better,” Cossette said. “We are learning. Our soccer IQ is coming. They are still trying to learn. I have a freshman in the back, and that is a big burden for him. The older guys are getting there. The burden is on the juniors and our few seniors.

“I just remind them of what they have done right and expanding on that. They are down, but they are still positive on where we need to go.”

Lisbon received a goal each from Douglass (assisted by Martin) and Hill in the second frame to close out the scoring. Sautter had seven saves before being relieved by Levi Levesque, who had one stop. Lisbon finished with a 23-12 shot advantage.

The Greyhounds visit Carrabec on Tuesday at 4 p.m., while Wiscasset returns home to face Oak Hill on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Lisbon High School’s Ben LeClair (14) dribbles past Wiscasset’s Matt Chapman (15) on Friday in Lisbon.

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