WA Boys’ Soccer had their fourth win of the season, defeating Acton-Boxborough (AB) 1-0 on Tuesday, September 24, improving their season record to 4-2.
The first half started off with WA keeping up a very strong defense in order to hold back AB. Junior goalie Jack Bussey came in clutch in the goal saving every shot that came his way.
During the majority of the first half AB had a sustained attack resulting in WA’s defense needing to stay in control and find a way to get to AB’s side of the field.
There was a timeout called by WA with 9 minutes left in the half. When they came back out, WA picked it up on the offensive side with a couple strong attempts on goal from seniors Matthew Tsui and Leo Albuquerque.
The remainder of the half was very back and forth, but WA never failed to keep up with AB. The first half came to a close with both teams still not adding a point to the board.
“For me, communication, battling for 50/50 balls, and having a good first touch is the key to success,” head coach Jeff Lamy said. “We talk a lot about these three areas of the game, and I think we can always improve in those areas.”
WA came out strong in the second half starting with a penalty kick from senior Prakruth Vikram, but the AB goalie had a solid save.
There were multiple other very strong attempts on goal from senior Lucas Dos-Santos and junior Michael Mahoney, but they still could not drain any of them in.
Another timeout was called with 10 minutes left in the game and both teams still had not scored.
“The team needs to work on finishing their chances,” Albuquerque said. “Many chances were missed that could have ended the game earlier.”
The intensity picked up in the last five minutes with a continuous back and forth on both sides of the field. With 30 seconds left on the clock, both teams began running down the field. After Albuquerque assisted it to junior Marvin Kuch, Kuch had a strong kick to the top right corner of the goal, a kick AB’s goalie was unable to stop.
“The team itself has a lot of passion and heart,” Albuquerque said. “Everyone on the team is great friends with each other so the chemistry is always good.”
WA Boys’ Soccer will direct their focus to their next home game on Monday, September 30 against Boston Latin at 4pm.
