It’s been a rough season for the Brandywine boys soccer team.

But the difficult times were all forgotten as the final seconds ticked away in Saturday’s match between the Bobcats and Bangor. Shorthanded and coming off of three straight mercy-rule losses, Brandywine rallied to beat Bangor, 3-2, to improve to 2-5-1.

“It’s been frustrating for me and (the players),” said Brandywine coach Evan Winkler, whose team is without four starters because of injuries. “It’s hard to keep going and work hard everyday when you get beat that bad. It tells you a lot about their character and how hard they want to work and be there for each other as teammates. I’m really proud of them. They earned this. They needed this game (against Bangor).”

Zach Schmidt had a goal and an assist to lead the Bobcats offensively.

Trailing 1-0, Schmidt’s corner kick assist on a goal from Seth Lane tied the match at 1 with 25:14 left in the match.

“You just got put the ball in the middle and hope someone gets on to it,” Schmidt said.

“We really focused (against Bangor) on our corner kicks,” Winkler said. “We haven’t been doing very good on our corner kicks. We talked to the team (Friday) and before the game (against Bangor) that we needed to get into our formation and that really helped us. We got people there and Zach had a beautiful kick too.”

Schmidt’s penalty kick goal with 17:24 left in the match gave the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. It’s the second penalty kick goal this season for Schmidt.

“You just got to focus and put it in,” Schmidt said about his mind-set while taking the penalty kick. “I felt confident when I kicked it.”

Brandywine extended its lead to 3-1 when Alex Ulrickson scored from 10 yards on a breakway with 9:50 left in the match.

“I feel like we had to have that third goal and a little cushion to make sure that we would win,” Winkler said. “Alex stuck with it when he missed that breakaway (in the first half). He believed in himself and had confidence and put the ball in.”

Brandywine had to step up defensively after Bangor pulled within 3-2 after getting a goal from Rafael Rodriguez with 1:43 left in the match.

“If we got the ball I wanted us to clear it and not dribble it and prevent them from getting a good scoring chance,” Winkler said about his team’s defensive strategy in the final two minutes.

In a scoreless first half, Brandywine outshot Bangor, 10-7. The Vikings outshot the Bobcats, 17-6, in the second half.

“The biggest thing is that we finally started finishing some shots,” Winkler said. “In the first half, we probably could have had three (goals). We had those two breakaways and another great shot. We just couldn’t put it in. In the second half, we finally started putting the ball on goal and their goalie couldn’t get to them.”

Brandywine got a strong game from goalie Brock Hartline, who finished with nine saves.

“Brock did well,” Winkler said. “It’s Brock’s second full game playing goalie. We really needed someone in goal and he said he would step up. He sacrificed for the team so I’m really proud of Brock. He played really tough out there.”

 

Bangor…2

Brandywine…3

Halftime score

Brandywine 0, Bangor 0

 

Second half

Bangor – Victor Calvillo (Maher Ramirez) 37:39

Brandywine – Seth Lane (Zach Schmidt) 25:14

Brandywine – Schmidt (penalty kick). 17:24

Brandywine – Alex Ulrickson 9:50

Bangor – Rafael Rodriguez 1:43

 

Shots on goal

Bangor 24

Brandywine 16

 

Saves

Brandywine 9 (Brock Hartline)

Bangor 5 (Rafael Rodriguez)

 

Corner kicks

Bangor 3, Brandywine 7

 

Records

Bangor 2-2-1, Brandywine 2-5-1