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.
Watertown Boys Soccer remains undefeated through 13 games of their 18-game regular season schedule after a well-deserved win against Division 3 rival St.Mary’s.
Watertown has met up with their Lynn foes many a time over recent years in many sports, regular season and postseason. St.Mary’s always brings it, and they brought it (a physical style of play) to the pitch this evening. While it took Watertown awhile to match the physicality in the first half, eventually the Raiders came to life and answered the bell. And once answered, they never backed down, and essentially won by TKO with 13 minutes left in the game when Pietro Marques took a Gavin Foley corner kick and headed it into the net to make it 4-2. To get to that score though took time. St.Mary’s scored first eight minutes in to make it 1-0. A series of passes and ball-reversals led to a perfect feed and a goal that Declan Chapron had no chance to save. But by midway through the first half Watertown started to find it’s game, and came oh so close to tying it off a Gavin Foley shot that hit the post. Co-Captain Aidan Anker had the rebound on his right foot, and an empty net, to make it a 1-1 game. If this game had ended differently, Anker might be having nightmares, because the ball squibbed off his foot and wide of the empty net. Trust me though, Anker made up for it the rest of the game.
Soccer nights have become a “thing” and Watertown’s was last night. The nightcap featured first place versus second place in the Freedom Division of the Middlesex League, specifically Melrose at 3-0-1 and 7 points, and the Raiders in second place at 2-0-2 and 6 points. Overall, Melrose was 4-2-2 and Watertown undefeated through eight games at 3-0-5. There you go — all you need to know before a 6:30 start on a beautiful fall night before a big soccer night crowd. Much like recent games, Watertown got off to a good start and controlled the play early. The back line of Shea, Brennock, Marques and Shrestha was anticipating the play and pushing the ball up field. Galeano, Anker, Hughes, Kurth, Salvi and Foley were handling the tempo up front. And only 6 minutes in Gavin Foley, with an assist to Salvi found an opening from 25-yards out nailed a ball to the top right corner for a 1-0 Watertown lead. Twelve minutes later Foley struck again with an assist from Anker to make it 2-0.
Are you a half-empty or half-full sports fan? Wednesday night’s Boys soccer game would put that question to the test. Was Watertown the better team and just ran into some hard luck, but found a way to salvage a tie? Or did the Raiders let a win slip away because of a few lapses and are fortunate to even get a tie? Or is the truth somewhere in-between? Who knows, but ultimately all that matters is what the young men in Watertown uniforms think, and how they respond Saturday night at home versus second place Melrose.
Watertown Boys Soccer’s third home game of the early season, and first at Victory Field, was a 5-0 win versus Stoneham Wednesday under the lights. Two first-half goals by senior midfielder Gavin Foley was topped by fellow senior midfielder Aidan Anker, who scored three goals in the second half. Junior goalkeeper Declan Chapron pitched his second shutout of the week, following up a 1-0 shutout over Woburn on Monday. All coaches dream of teaching and coaching players who are motivated and hardworking and simply good people. Well, Coach Frank Cacia is a very lucky guy because he has that in the 2025 edition of Boys Soccer. That’s not to say Coach Cacia hasn’t had great kids in his tenure. It’s simply to point how hard this group worked in the off-season, and how determined they are to turn that hard work into a successful season, a season that they want to include a tournament bid and a home playoff game.
The following announcement was provided by Watertown Youth Soccer:
Soccer fans, families, and the entire Watertown community are invited to Watertown Soccer Night 2025 on Saturday, Sept. 27th at Victory Field. This year’s celebration will be bigger and better than ever, with the WHS Girls and Boys Varsity teams featured in a doubleheader at Victory Field. The evening kicks off with the Girls Varsity game vs. Melrose at 4 p.m., followed by the Boys Varsity game vs.
Senior co-captain Rachel Egan is congratulated by her teammates after scoring against St. Mary’s in the Round of 16 of the State Tournament. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
The Raiders moved on to the Round of 8 in the MIAA Div. 3 Field Hockey Tournament after defeating St. Mary’s 2-0 on Tuesday afternoon.
The Watertown High School cheerleading team placed third at the Panther Invitational. (Contributed Photo)
The Watertown High School field hockey team rolled in the Round of 32 State Tournament game on Sunday. The Raiders opened the 2024 MIAA Div. 3 State Tournament by defeating Falmouth 8-0 at Victory Field. Watertown senior Caroline Andrade scored three times, and senior Victoria Dicker scored twice in the win.
