MONMOUTH — At the beginning of the season, Joe Fletcher wasn’t sure what to expect from his Monmouth Academy boys’ soccer team.

The Mustangs opened the season with a loss to Mountain Valley and were a young and unseasoned group. There was potential, but Fletcher just didn’t know how that might all come together in subsequent results.

So far, the Mustangs coach has liked what he’s seen. Saturday, Monmouth hosted Lisbon in a showdown of the top two seeds in Western C South. With a 2-1 win over the Greyhounds, the Mustangs have now won six straight.

“I wasn’t sure (how we’d do),” Fletcher said. “Looking back at it now, Mountain Valley is good. That was our only blemish. I walked away from that game thinking I wasn’t sure how good we were going to be. We’re getting better.”

The Mustangs got a Chandler Harris goal late in the first half to provide the game-winner. From there, Monmouth held off Lisbon in the second half to secure the win.

“The defense played great today — the best they’ve played all year,” said Harris, a senior forward. “It was a really good game, which helps us out a lot against these guys.”

Lisbon had just blanked Wiscasset Friday and was bouncing back for a tough matchup with Monmouth. The Greyhounds (5-1), already battling injury issues, had Austin Bedford and Austin Fournier go down with injuries in the second half.

“We knew it was going to be tough coming here today,” Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester said. “It was two games in 18 hours. We showed pretty good recovery doing that, but they’re (Monmouth) pretty tough, especially it being homecoming for them. We made it a game in the second half.”

The Mustangs (6-1) graduated seven starters from last year and return just three seniors. That’s usually the makeup of a rebuilding squad, but so far, the Mustangs have been building a successful season.

“It’s early and we know there are some good teams out there,” Fletcher said. “So far, so good and we’ve stayed healthy.”

Monmouth got the first goal of the game with 27:18 left in the half on a Gage Cote breakaway. It came just moments after a Bedford breakaway bid that was broken up by Monmouth goalkeeper Bradley Neal.

After that stop, the Mustangs pushed the ball the other way. Hunter Richardson fed the ball ahead for Cote. He had a quick shot that was saved by Lisbon keeper Jonah Sautter. The rebound bounced up and over Sautter and Cote got a foot on it and put it home.

That lead lasted only a few minutes. A push call led to a penalty kick with 25:35 left in the half. Fournier drilled it in for the equalizer.

“With the exception of the one foul, we played pretty well,” Fletcher said of his team’s defense. “They didn’t have a lot of chances. I liked the way we played.”

The game-winner came with 10:28 left in the half. Richardson took a corner and put it out front. Harris was there for the header and the lead.

“Hunter played a beautiful ball right in,” Harris said. “It was just set up, and I got over a guy in front of me and put it in.”

Lisbon tried to produce a rally in the second half but couldn’t find the tying goal. Nick Huston had the best rush for the Greyhounds, but the Monmouth defense in front of Neal was solid.

The Greyhounds weren’t helped by the loss of Fournier (to a possible concussion) and Bedford (to a leg injury). Both were catalysts for the Lisbon offense early and the Greyhounds had to make do without them.

“I thought we really stepped it up in the second half,” Sylvester said. “I thought we came out really flat in the first half. We didn’t challenge the ball. In the second half, even with two of our better players on the bench, the guys stepped it up out there.”

Monmouth produced some steady pressure in the second half and had some chances to add to the lead but couldn’t get the insurance tally.

“We felt like we controlled the first half,” Fletcher said. “The second half was a little more even, but we were lying back with the lead we had, not by design.”

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