JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Boys Soccer Season Comes to a Harsh End In the Round of 16

There’s always another game is a common-used cliche in sports, but come tournament-time that couldn’t be further from the truth. On this night, either the Bears of Greater New Bedford (GNB), the No. 4 seed at 17-4, or the Raiders of Watertown, the No. 13 seed at 10-2-7, would be left with no choice but to look back on a successful season, but left feeling empty. Unfortunately, it’s the Raiders left feeling that way after coming up short at Greater New Bedford 4-2 in the MIAA Div. 3 Round of 16 Boys Soccer Tournament.

It was a rainy Monday throughout Massachusetts, and at 6 o’clock when the Raiders put the ball in play to start this matchup of schools separated by 60 miles, it was still a bit misty and a little foggy. Unfortunately, the Raiders start to this game matched the conditions, as the Bears, in transition, pushed the ball towards the Raiders goal with precision, piecing together three crisp passes and finishing it off by planting  a shot easily past Junior goalie Declan Chapron not even two minutes into the game.

The Raiders snapped out of their fog immediately, though, and almost six minutes in Watertown pressed the net, ultimately forcing the GNB goalkeeper to break up Gavin Foley’s scoring attempt, but fouling him to the tune of a penalty kick. Foley snuck the PK inside the right post to tie the game at 1. The fog quickly returned though, as Watertown got caught giving the lead right back to GNB, not even a minute later. The Raiders then found their footing and started controlling play, even while not spacing the field as well as past games, and not moving the ball from side to side with the same purpose as we’ve come to expect.  

So, while forcing the play and still trailing, Watertown experienced another breakdown and with sixteen minutes left in the period gave up another goal to fall behind 3-1. But, don’t ever say this Raiders team is not resilient. Watertown was awarded six corner kicks in the first half, and at 25:15 Foley leaned into his best corner of the night, one with just the right height for Pietro Marques to head home Watertown’s second goal. A wild and wooly first half ended 3-2 GNB, but with the Raiders lurking and 40 minutes of soccer still to play.

The first half saw its share of physical play. This Round of 16 game employed three officials, a lead official on the field, and one official running each sideline. Most officials, by nature, try hard to establish a tone — “I’m going to call everything” or “I’m going to let the kids play” being the two most common outcomes. Something in the middle is possible, but hard to pull off. A lot, of course, depends on the players and their ability to read the room, so to speak, and play to the wont of the official. Early on, Watertown benefitted from a number of fouls called on the Bears.  By the end of the half, it had leveled off somewhat, but there were inconsistencies, and they only grew in the second half.

The most egregious non-call was about 25 minutes in, with the scoreboard still reading GNB 3  Watertown 2. On a semi-breakaway a GNB player was broken up in the penalty area, and to most seemed to have been fouled and about to be awarded a PK. Nope. Watertown headed the other way, and in the midst of trying to get the equalizer, the non-call loomed big. Shortly thereafter, probably Watertown’s last, best opportunity to tie the game ended empty-handed. Foley took a feed midfield, maneuvered around the 15 yard line and sent a shot toward the goalkeeper’s right, earmarked for just inside the post. The shot lacked just a little oomph, and a diving save was made, but a rebound was allowed. Evan Kurth (who had a great night) 1-and-half-timed it and just missed over the crossbar.

Well, when time is on your side, it’s a glorious feeling, but when you need to score to keep your season alive and the clock is under ten minutes to play, drastic measures must be taken. Coach Frank Cacia had his squad pinching up to try and force turnovers which would lead to shots on net. GNB simply wanted to possess and clear the ball out of harm’s way. One such clear led to an odd-man rush, and a what seemed like a routine save for goalkeeper Chapron, but on a wet and slick night ands perhaps already thinking of what he was going to do with the ball to rush it back towards the GNB net and give his team a chance to tie, the ball slipped through Chapron’s crouched arms and legs and into the goal to give GNB a a commanding 4-2.  

Look, the Raiders were not in the Round of 16 on a whim. They were there to win and for large chunks of Monday night’s game they were the better team. But GNB was very polished with the ball in the first half and were very good with their spacing and ball-placement. In the end, if these teams were to play five times, each would win twice in my opinion, and the fifth would go to shootout. Unfortunately, on this night Watertown’s first-half breakdowns were just too much to overcome. Final score GNB 4, Watertown 2. 

For the Raiders, and specifically thirteen seniors – Marques, Rahman, Foley, Tonyan, Barseghyan, Anker, Kurth, Galeano, Yildrim, Barresi, Coronado and Shea — they have every reason to be proud of what this team accomplished. These young man gave it everything dating back, make it way back, to the dog-days of summer, and up to the final whistle tonight. 10-3-7 is a winners record, and indicative that they could play with just about anyone on any day. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to play another game, or at least not this season. But, it was a fun ride and one this group will hopefully cherish always despite it ending in defeat.

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                                                1         2     –    F

Watertown                            2         0     –    2

Greater New Bedford         3         1     –    4

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1st Half

Watertown 0   GNB   1…. Goal at 1:49

Watertown 1   GNB  1…. Gavin Foley, Penalty Shot Goal at 5:50

Watertown 1   GNB  2…  Goal at 6:34

Watertown 1   GNB  3… Goal at 24:00

Watertown 2   GNB  3… Pietro Marques (Assist, Gavin Foley) at 25:15

2nd Half

Watertown 2   GNB  4… Goal at 32:49