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Editor’s note: Each week during the fall sports season, Varsity Maine will highlight a boys and girls team of the week. The teams, picked by staff members, will take into account several factors, including success stories, bounce-back efforts and notable accomplishments, among others. Athletes, coaches and athletic directors can nominate teams by emailing sports editor Bill Stewart at [email protected] or Varsity Maine editor Lee Horton at [email protected].

Coach Bob Hodgman-Burns saw signs during a preseason game against Laconia, New Hampshire, that this could be a successful season for the Fryeburg Academy boys soccer team.

“My local players are a year more experienced, and I don’t want to say they suffered through last year, but they had a tough year last year,” Hodgman-Burns said. “I think they learned a lot. So after that first week, it was all coming together.”

With an 8-2-1 record, Fryeburg ranked second in the Class B South Heal point standings heading into Wednesday’s game against Traip Academy. In 2025, the Raiders finished 3-8-3.

Fourth-year player and team captain Abram Grace said the Raiders took a little time to find their footing before settling into the grind of the Western Maine Conference schedule. They had a loss and a tie in their first five games but then won five of their next six.

“Our season started, obviously, not how we’re doing now,” Grace said. “We were struggling with communication, and our passes were a little bit sloppy at times, but throughout the season, we’ve been working hard and getting quite a few wins that we didn’t really expect.”

That includes a 1-0 win over defending Class B champion Yarmouth on Sept. 17 and a 2-1 victory over perennial power Cape Elizabeth on Sept. 22. It’s the first time since 2011 that Fryeburg, ranked 10th in the Varsity Maine poll, has beaten both of those schools in the same season.

Last week, the Raiders offense exploded in a 7-0 win over Lake Region and a 9-1 victory over Sacopee Valley.

The Raiders have scored 39 goals, and nine players have contributed to that total.

“I think that in the games that we come out strong and really try to push from the start and don’t give (opponents) any time, don’t let the team kind of play with the ball, we’re doing better,” Grace said. “So I think for the rest of the season, we’re being aggressive and going at every team we play, because we’re not going to overlook any team.”