It was bad enough that Coach John Tocci and his boys’ soccer team had to open its season against archrival Marshfield. But to do it on the Rams’ home field without the services of starters junior Mike Gabrielli (broken foot), junior Zac Gino (hip), and senior Pat Charland (hamstring) made it even more challenging.

Add to that the frightening injury to senior Jim Landry, and it’s even more surprising that the Dragons held it together for the full 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Marshfield.

Despite a shaky start for both teams, Duxbury had a slight advantage in play even though senior forwards Daniel Sangster and Greg Loreaux were both tightly marked, with Sangster seeing few chances while fighting off a double-team.

Duxbury’s best chance came early in the first half when a Landry header at the ten-minute mark was swatted away by the Marshfield goalkeeper.

Later in the half, Tocci moved Sangster back into the midfield where he found more room to maneuver, sending a pass up the middle for the speedy Loreaux, who ran onto the ball and blasted a shot on the Marshfield net. The goalie came out to stop Loreaux’s initial shot, but the Duxbury forward collected his rebound and fired home a thunderous shot inside the box for the game-winner.

The game remained scoreless for the rest of the half, with the Duxbury defense of Mark Brady, David Hemingway, Steve Blout, Tommy Drummy and goalie Max Cote remaining resolute, while a frustrated Marshfield captain was yellow carded in the first half for a knee to the groin.

The action turned more physical in the second half, as the Ram crowd became more boisterous.

Strong midfield play by Morgan Dwinell, Mitch Barrington, Justin McElduff and Landry gave the Dragons an advantage. However, Marshfield applied pressure late in the half and kept Duxbury on its toes for a solid five minutes, getting its best chance on a centering pass that was fired on goal, only to be deflected away by a Duxbury defender. Duxbury held its composure as the intensity of the game increased.

With less than three minutes remaining, Landry was ridden out of bounds and went head first into the stands, sending several fans scattering in tears, as he lay motionless while pinned under the first row bench. Landry was taken to the hospital for observation where he was diagnosed with a badly bruised right shoulder, a sore back, and a concussion.

The Dragons came back after the incident and almost scored when Eric Larsen had a chance late in the game, but the netminding of Cote and the play of the defense held on for the shutout.

“We played as a team today. We made some mistakes, but everyone seemed to backup up each other,” said Tocci. “We came here to play soccer and protect each other and I was proud of the fact that we didn’t retaliate like we would have in the past.”

The boys will now entertain Scituate on Thursday afternoon at 4.