Plymouth, Bow battle back and forth for a tie in D2 boys soccer

BOW - To Bow High School boys soccer coach George Pinkham, Andrew Ralston saved the game for his team in its 2-2 home tie with Plymouth on Thursday.

Plymouth (7-4-1) had a chance to earn the victory with three minutes left in double overtime on a counter attack following a Falcons free kick. Bobcats forward Peter Wingsted sprung teammate Douglas Cassarino with a through ball.

Cassarino carried the ball toward the Bow penalty box with Ralston, a senior back, right behind him. After catching up to Cassarino, Ralston tackled the former before he could test Falcons goalkeeper Connor Griffin with a shot.

“In a game like this, I equate it to a tournament game where you have got to do absolutely everything you can to disrupt the play, to save a goal, to score a goal and do anything you can to win the game,” Pinkham said. “And we didn’t win the game but (Ralston) did save the game.”

Bobcats midfielder Delvin Costa beat Griffin (eight saves) in a one-on-one situation with a low shot to the far post with 14 minutes remaining in regulation to break a 1-1 deadlock.

Just before play resumed following Costa’s goal, one of Pinkham’s players yelled from the bench that the Falcons still had time to respond. One minute later, Max Elsasser, a senior forward, recorded his second goal of the game to draw Bow (7-3-1) even.

Elsasser’s shot bounced off the hands of Plymouth goalkeeper Roger Babin (11 saves), who dived to try to make the save, and into the net. Matt Selleck assisted on Elsasser’s game-tying goal.

“Both teams technically broke each other down and both teams technically had opportunities,” said Plymouth coach Jesse Elderkin, who played for Pinkham at Concord High School. “You look at it and you go, ‘Oh man.’ To give away a one-goal lead on them like that was tough.”

Elsasser’s first goal, which came in the 26th minute off a cross from Ethan Berrigan, opened the game’s scoring.

Pinkham said Elsasser is dangerous anytime he touches the ball near the box.

“He’s a go-to guy,” Pinkham said. “Other guys have shown they can (score) but he’s a four-year varsity player so I’ve seen it since really his freshman year.”

Plymouth only allowed the Falcons to enjoy their 1-0 lead for three minutes. Bobcats midfielder Graham Pogue put home a rebound goal following a Wingsted shot to tie the game.

“We fight to the end and one thing I think we’ve found out this season is we’re very resilient,” Elderkin said. “This was not the first time we were down a goal - not the first time we (came) back.”

Bow nearly took a 2-1 lead into halftime. Junior midfielder Spencer Cheney ripped a promising shot in the Bobcats penalty box that bounced off the inside of the crossbar and out.

Plymouth’s only two corner kicks came inside the final two minutes of the second overtime. Bow registered six corner kicks, including four in the second half.

“That’s playoff soccer,” Elderkin said. “You’ve got two quality teams that are looking to make noise in the tournament and I think you just saw them - boom - hit head to head.”