NORTHWOOD – The Merrimack Valley Pride (6-6) broke a three-game losing streak by beating the Coe-Brown Bears (5-6-1) on Friday afternoon, 2-1.

Merrimack Valley had lost to Pembroke Academy before playing two tough games against two teams top of the division – Oyster River and Campbell. With a win away at Coe-Brown, the Pride broke the losing streak and leapfrogged past the Bears in the standings. The teams now stand at ninth and 10th, respectively.

Pride senior forward Joey Olivera opened the scoring seven minutes into the first half. Five minutes later, senior Carsyn Perkins knocked another goal in from a long looping cross to make it 2-0. 

“That was the first lead we’ve had in a couple of games. So it felt good to start off like that, especially so soon into the game,” said Olivera. “It gave us confidence to finally go and search for that win today.”

The Pride defense locked down and moved the ball under pressure, but the Bears did not let up the attack. The Bears had five shots on target until they scored 15 minutes into the second half on a dart-like run by junior forward Brady Colgan through the two center backs, assisted by forward Tommy Maskwa.

Despite the multiple shots from the Bears’ front line, they could not equalize the scoreline and were outplayed in the midfield by the Pride.

“We just weren’t consistent across the board. We didn’t have the energy or the hunger,” said the Bears’ head coach, Christian Gompert.

Goalkeeper Jacob Baggett held it down for the Pride despite a hard collision with an incoming forward on a high cross. He returned to his feet and notched nine saves in total throughout the game. 

“Jacob, our keeper, has come up huge, so many times, and he plays through a lot of stuff,” said Pride head coach Ken Fuller. “And at the end of the game. The last 15 minutes, I mean, he was getting shot after shot and just continued to stand his ground and make some good saves.”

Overall, the Pride seem to have shaken off some dust, worked to improve their composure and will look to finish the season out strong.

“So this one is big for us, big for our confidence,” said Baggett.

Meanwhile, losing at home can be a big blow to teams looking to build steam with only four games left in the season, but coach Gompert is not panicked about his team’s situation.

“The coaching staff, we feel really, really good about where we’ve seen these guys from the beginning of the year until now. So we’re very excited about this,” he said. “This is a setback, record-wise, but it’s another learning experience.”