November 1st, 2022
Greater Portland Christian School (GPCS) Boys Soccer Team Makes Playoffs Under New coach
By Chris Spaulding
November 1st, 2022
Greater Portland Christian School (GPCS) Boys Soccer Team Makes Playoffs Under New coach
By Chris Spaulding
The GPCS boys’ soccer team finished the regular season with a 6 – 6 record, landing them the 6th seed in the Maine Principal Associations’ Class D South tournament. The team was guided by first year head coach Bryan Dench, who stepped in after longtime coach Chris Spaulding stepped down. Dench was assisted by Aaron Mann.
The boys started off hot, going 3-1 through their first four games. The Lions defeated Rangeley 4-3 in overtime to begin the season. They followed that up with a 4-1 loss to the eventual #2 seed, Chop Point. The Lions rebounded with a healthy 8-2 win over Temple Academy. GPCS earned another win during their hot streak, with a 3-2 win over Chop Point.
GPCS continued their season with a loss and a win against Pine Tree Academy, two losses against Chop Point. A loss to Rangeley and another loss to the powerful Islesboro on homecoming. The Lions finished out their season with two wins against Vinalhaven on the Island of Vinalhaven. The original schedule had the boys playing a game Friday night, staying in the Vinalhaven school overnight before playing the second game on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, a storm on Friday prevented the sleep over from occurring, but thankfully, due to the creativeness of the Vinalhaven AD, the boys were able to play both games on Saturday.
The fall weather created a scheduling nightmare for most Maine high schools. After sealing the sixth seed in the MPA class D South tournament bracket GPCS and Chop Point were finally able to work out a date, time and place to play their quarterfinal game. #3 seed Chop Point hosted #6 seed GPCS on the turf field at Morse High School in Bath Maine. Chop Point took a 1-0 lead in the first half that held up for the 1-0 win as Chop Point continued on in the tournament.
One of the fun main themes of the season was watching eight grader Papa Osei make a run at the GPCS school record for varsity goals scored by an 8th grade boy in a season. The previous records of 11 goals and 11 assists set by then eight grader Ethan Spaulding in 2012 were squarely in Osei’s sights. Osei ended the season with 18 goals and 5 assists, demolishing Spaulding’s record for varsity goals scored by an 8th grade boy in a season.