By Craig Brinkerhoff
Staff Writer
Boys’ Varsity soccer added another win to their season so far, securing a 1-0 win at Andover High School this past Saturday.
The Ghosts beat Chelmsford last week as well, and going into the match-up Coach Tony DiLeo thought Andover would be a tougher competitor.
“We played them last year, they were a very young team, they had all juniors and sophomores last year, so they’re getting everybody back,” said DiLeo.
Going into the game, Coach Tony DiLeo was also worried about all the players benched with injuries.
“If it wasn’t for the injuries I’d feel real good. So we’ll see if we can work through the injuries. Some of the people who are usually substitutes are going to get a chance to play a lot of minutes,” said DiLeo.
If there was any apprehension about the missing starters, it became less and less apparent.
The game was in a stalemate for the first half, going 0-0 accompanied by numerous impressive saves on either side, including one from Westford’s Nick Marino.
Andover was playing very strongly from the start, keeping possession of the ball and playing primarily in Westford’s half. The Ghosts had to stay on their toes, for within three minutes, Andover took a whopping three shots at Westford’s goalie, sophomore standout Sam Brewer, who easily stifled the first two. The third was blocked with some help from the goal frame. Brewer made another great save with four minutes left in the half.
The second half began with Westford finally finding some steam and the play opening up. For the next twenty minutes, play was dominated by massive saves from both goaltenders. At 26:07, Brewer made possibly his best save of the game, where he performed a fantastic diving catch to maintain the 0-0 score.
Then at 19:01, Westford’s Ben Osgood, assisted by Scott McCord, narrowly snuck one in Andover’s net, with some help from a particularly weak save on Andover’s part.
Westford was then able to maintain this 1-0 lead for the remainder of the game, due in part to Saturday’s windy conditions. A minute after Osgood’s goal, the wind blew the ball free from WA’s goal, maintaining the lead.
The win was unofficially guaranteed when, with two minutes to go, Brewer snagged a high penalty shot.
It seems that DiLeo had nothing to worry about.
