It’s great to score goals if you’re a soccer team, but those weren’t the only goals Watertown Boys Soccer thought about this past off-season. They had a vision of a successful season with lofty goals, and were on a mission to live up to their own challenge. They practiced all summer long. Five days a week. Sometimes all seven days. Captain-organized practices, rain or shine, throughout the summer heat. This didn’t necessarily make them unique, but it did qualify them as committed and motivated. They wanted to win on Watertown Soccer Night, they wanted to win on Senior Night, they wanted to win the Freedom Division of the Middlesex League, they wanted to rank high enough at seasons-end to get a home tournament game, and then they wanted to win that game and advanced to the second round. And then … who knows?!
Well, last month they won on Soccer night, and last night, number two on the checklist was front and center — Senior Night. Here’s the list of 13 seniors honored prior to the start of the game:
Samuel Alves, Aidan Anker, Stefano Barresi, Davit Barseghyan, Joshua Coronado, Gavin Foley, Tristan Galeano, Evan Kurth, Pietro Marques, Kashif Rahman, Sam Shea, Raffi Tonyan, and Rohat Yildrim
As always, the ceremony was a very cool thing, as player and family, one by one, would be introduced and meet at mid-field and take a picture together that they’ll always remember. Then, all 13 seniors and families met for a group picture. Awesome. Congratulations to all 13 for your devotion and contribution to Watertown Soccer and Watertown High School Athletics!!
And then, it was time to play the game and try to check off goal number two. If Vegas had a line on this game (which of course they didn’t) it would have made Watertown heavy favorites. The Raiders, coming off their first loss to top-10 Arlington on Wednesday, were looking to get back on their winning ways and stood at 6-1-7. Wilmington on the other hand was 0-12-3. And, when it’s all said and done, and the cliches are uttered (you don’t play the game on paper, records get thrown out the window once the game begins, etc….) Watertown did indeed control this game from start to finish. They faced a scare with seconds remaining in a scoreless first half, when the ball found itself on the left foot of a Wilmington player with a step on the defense and inside 15 yards of the goal. The shot went wide of the goal though, and immediately afterwards the whistle blew to end the first half.
What made the scoring chance even more scary was the fact that Wilmington DID NOT have a shot on goal up until that point, and really hadn’t come close to putting pressure on goalkeeper Declan Chapron. At the other end Watertown had opportunities galore. And five corner kicks. And a number of free kicks inside of 30 yards. But the Wilmington goalkeeper was solid, and the Raiders just couldn’t produce foot to ball to net in ways that would result in goals. Whether it was Foley or Anker or Kurth, to name a few, shots sailed high or wide or got blocked or saved.
That’s soccer, though, and it was up to the Raiders to figure it out if they wanted win number seven. When at their best, like most soccer teams, it’s about movement and touches and structure and spacing and reversing field, and all that leads to openings and juicy scoring chances (as longtime Bruin announcer Jack Edwards liked to say). Midway through the first half the Raiders found that mode, and it was fun to watch. The same could be said of the second half. Early on, winless Wilmington seemed to find some confidence from playing the Raiders to a 0-0 first half, and they started the second half challenging more at midfield and winning more of the 50-50 battles.
Then, the Raiders came to life, they played the “right way” once again, and 13:30 into the second half senior co-captain Aidan Anker, off a rebound from a corner kick by senior Gavin Foley, sent a shot top shelf to the left of the goalkeeper and made it 1-0 Raiders. The next 25 minutes was about Watertown trying to make it a comfortable two-goal lead, and Wilmington trying to figure out a way to create pressure and tie the game. They did finally produce a couple of shots on Chapron, one that led to a nice diving save. That led to a corner, the first of the game for Wilmington, and while the entry never found it’s way to a Wilmington player , it came close amidst a scrum which almost tied the game.
Watertown regained control though, and after more scoring opportunities, they struck gold with two minutes left in the game. Great hustle by Freshman Darra Brennock and Evan Kurth led to an opening from 15 yards out to the left of the goal, and senior co-captain Evan Kurth drilled one in the net to cement a two-nil win on Senior Night.
Congratulations once again to all the seniors, but there’s a lot of soccer still to play. Watertown and second place Wakefield meet Wednesday night Oct. 22 at Wakefield. Huge game for the Raiders if they want to win the Freedom Division. Saturday Oct. 25, fourth-place Burlington comes to Victory Field for a 10:30 a.m. game. And then Monday Oct. 27, Watertown wraps up the regular season at Melrose, currently in third place. And then, the Div. 3 brackets will be revealed and Watertown will prepare for the next stage of what has been a very fulfilling season to date.
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1 2 F
Wilmington 0 0 0
Watertown 0 2 2
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Scoring Summary
1st Half
No Goals
2nd Half
Watertown 1 Wilmington 0…. Goal by Aidan Anker @ 13:30
Watertown 2 Wilmington 0… Goal by Evan Kurth @ 38:00