Deer Isle—After graduating nine seniors last year, this year’s team is young and with only 12 players. The team is anchored by nine sophomores, most of whom have experience under Coach Joe Stinson last year. This year they are the heart of the team.
The juniors are Collin Cochrane at forward and Mason Plummer who will be used by Coach Stinson in many positions because of his ability to see the field.
The sophomores include Sam Knowlton at forward, Dillan Steele at defense, Nathan Thompson at midfield, Dakota Emrick at midfield, Drew Wendell as goalie, Myles Brown at forward/midfield, Coleman Brown at defense, Jacob Gell at forward/midfield, and Trevor Bubar at defense.
There are two freshmen, Elijah Stinson at forward and Alex Schmidt at defense as well as an eighth grader, Chris Shanaan at defense.
Especially with this team, the positions will be very fluid because of our small numbers, most players will be playing all over the field. Though we are young, Coach Stinson feels we have a good camaraderie and good communications.
Though we lost our scrimmage game by a one-sided score, we passed extremely well and controlled the ball more than the Narraguagus team, outshooting them as well. The goals we gave up were more a function of missed assignments than anything.
So, we will be a work in progress, though Coach Stinson feels we have a lot of individual skills with good morale as a team overall. How fast we go up the learning curve will depend on how hard we work at positioning and knowing each other. Coach Stinson plans on using passing to slow down the game with our limited players. I expect this team to look a lot better as the season progresses.
The boys lost 10-1 to Calais in their first game on September 1. Calais had a very talented player who scored 8 of their goals. With only 12 players, we got down early and fell away from our game plan that worked well against Narraguagus. It was frustrating for us as we failed to play together and didn’t pass well. Nathan Thompson scored our lone goal in the second half assisted by Myles Brown.
2018 DISHS boys soccer team. By Jack Scott
The 2018 Deer Isle-Stonington boys soccer team includes, in front from left, Myles Brown, Elijah Stinson, Sam Knowlton and Jacob Gell. In back are Dillen Steele, Coleman Brown, Alex Schmidt, Mason Plummer, Nathan Thompson, Andrew Wendell, Coach Joe Stinson, Dakotah Emrick and Trevor Bubar.