Twins often share similar traits.
For Bucksport High School senior twins Trent and Addison Goss, producing goals is certainly a common quality.
Trent has broken the single season record in schoolboy soccer with 61 goals this fall. That includes both 11-player and eight-player teams. Bucksport is an eight-player team after being an 11-player team for his first three seasons.
And his coach, John Boynton, said he has also picked up some assists on the team’s other 16 goals.
“He has probably scored or assisted on all but five of our goals,” said Boynton. “He is big and strong and can finish with both feet. The big thing is he has developed his foot skills and his speed.”
Increasing his speed has been extremely beneficial for eight-player soccer, said Boynton.
And the strength he has on his 6-foot-2 frame has also been advantageous.
“If he gets his shoulder on you, it’s pretty hard to keep him from getting off his shot,” said Boynton.
The 5-foot-8 Addison, who is two minutes older than Trent, has figured in 37 of her team’s 50 goals during the regular season with 21 goals and 16 assists.
“She has had a fabulous year,” said Bucksport girls coach Mike Garcelon. “She has blossomed into an all-around player. If we need her to score, she scores. If we need her for assists, she does a great job getting her teammates involved.
“She is very much a team player. If she is double-teamed, she will get rid of the ball to a teammate. If she isn’t, she will go to the goal. She has been awesome.”
Boynton and girls coach Mike Garcelon said there are a lot of similarities between the twins.
“They are very cerebral players. They both play with a lot of effort and speed and they can really finish,” said Boynton.
“They are both big, lanky hard-working kids who can run forever. They’ve been great for both the boys and girls teams,” said Garcelon. “And they have very supportive parents.”
They are close-knit but also competitive with each other.
“They are more friends than they are competitors,” said their mom, Brandy Goss.
Trent Goss said some siblings fight a lot but they don’t.
“We have disagreements but we’ve always been close and we have the other’s back all the time,” said Trent.
“We talk soccer every day. And after every game, we always have something to tell each other,” said Addison.
Their father, Jon Goss, said they will “offer suggestions to each other” and they have learned how to do so in a constructive and tactful way without irritating each other.
They began playing recreation soccer together but Addison pointed out that they reveled in chances to compete against one another.
“Whenever there was an opportunity to play against each other and beat up on each other, we would take it, she said.
Trent said after they would get home from a recreation soccer practice and go play on the family’s front lawn.
“We would be out there for hours passing and working on our games,” he said.
Addison said her twin “loves to tell me things I need to work on and something I should have done in this particular moment.”
One thing he has harped on is the need for her to develop her weaker left foot and to use it more.
“That will make her more diverse and she can explore other options,” Trent said. “And she seems to be doing that over the course of the year. She is listening to what I have to offer and it has really benefitted her.”
Addison said she and her brother play very similarly and have similar mindsets, though there are some differences on the field.
“Sometimes, he likes to take the ball himself more while I prefer to pass it to my teammates so they can get opportunities,” she said.
Jon Goss noted that his daughter has added a physical element to her game.
“Trent is more aggressive and physical while Addison relies more on speed and finesse,” their father said.
Both are multi-sport athletes as Trent also plays basketball and baseball and Addison runs track in the spring.
Going from playing 11-player soccer to eight-player soccer has enabled Trent to showcase his talent since there is more open space and fewer opponents to deal with.
“It’s a totally different game. It allows me to take my skills to a different style of game which has definitely helped me score goals and stuff,” said Trent.
“One of the big things I’ve noticed is I’ve never been so sore and tired after playing a soccer game,” Trent said. “Playing 30-minute halves instead of 40-minute halves makes it a little bit different, but not a whole lot.”
Addison Goss has something her brother doesn’t have and that is a state soccer championship.
The Bucks beat Maranacook of Readfield 2-1 in the 2022 state Class C title game.
Addison Goss was a freshman who was a valuable asset off the bench.
“That was a great way to start out my high school career and I have seen improvement in my game every year,” said Addison, who scored 26 goals a year ago and has scored over 70 in her career as has her brother.
Trent is a striker for the boys team while Addison can play striker, wing or in the midfield.
The twins agree that it has been a memorable season so far and they would like nothing more than to win a state championship.
The boys went 13-1 during the regular season and are the fourth seed in the Eight-Person North title chase. They will play a preliminary round winner in the quarterfinals next week.
”We’ve put a lot of work leading up to it and we’re finally seeing the results from how hard we’ve worked,” Trent said.
The 10-3-1 Bucksport girls are the second seed in C North and will entertain seventh seed Maine Central Institute from Pittsfield in Tuesday’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal round game.
“It has definitely been special,” Addison said.
