Over the last few years, the rivalry between the Mascenic and Conant boys soccer teams has been as close as can be.

In both the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the teams split their twice-a-season match-ups.

Just this Oct.6, the first meeting of 2011 came down to a second-half penalty kick, won by the Vikings 2-1.

And on Thursday, the two squads met on Sodexo Field at Franklin Pierce University and through much of the rematch it was tied.

The Orioles struck first with one minute and 40 seconds left in the first half and looked ready to take the lead into the break.

Steven Hodgson’s one-timer off a Jeff DeGrenier corner got over the outstretched arms of Mascenic keeper Jon Rutledge to make it 1-0 Conant.

But just 32 seconds later, Aaron Slyman knotted the game at one, off a loose ball in the box.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, the score remained 1-1. Then Nikolay Brovin drove in a free kick and with 10 minutes left, Jalen Rines headed home an insurance goal past Conant keeper Tyler Desmaris.

It was the first season sweep for either program since 2007 when Mascenic won both meetings.

In 2010, the two teams played to a double overtime scoreless tie and then Mascenic won 4-3 with two minutes left in double overtime for its only win of the season.

The win on Thursday put the Vikings at 5-10-1 on the season and gave them the 16th seed in the Division III tournament. As a result, Mascenic hosted Hillsboro-Deering in the play-in game on Sunday, which they won 2-1 in double overtime.

As for the Orioles, they finished 2-14 overall. Both wins came on the road, including a 3-2 win over eighth ranked Mascoma last week.

But it was not enough to get Conant into the play-in game round, finishing one spot shy of qualifying. Conant did not win a game all of last season and went almost two years without a victory.

This article appears in Oct. 25, 2011, issue of the Ledger-Transcript.