By Kyle Auger
Sports Editor
“Newton South is a tough opponent, but we’ve worked hard all week at practice are we are looking to come out strong,” said junior Scott McCord before the boys’ varsity soccer team’s 3-0 victory against Newton South on Thursday.
Once the game started however, victory looked almost unattainable. Newton South received the ball off the kickoff and controlled possession for a majority of the first 20 minutes.
The first chance to score was Newton South’s when one of their strikers collided with sophomore goalkeeper Sam Brewer while the ball went just wide of the post.
However, from that point on Westford Academy took the momentum and mounted their own offensive.
Seventeen minutes into the game a header from junior Ben Osgood barely missed the goal, and following a Newton South handball violation, the following free kick barely skimmed over the crossbar.
Later, with 16:27 remaining in the first half, the tie was finally broken when McCord ripped a shot from the left side off a pass by junior Torsten Nilsson. The Newton South goaltender didn’t have a chance to react to the perfectly placed strike and the WA sideline burst with elation.
Following the breach in the tie the game once again entered a gridlock that consumed the rest of the first half and the start of the second.
However McCord was not done, tacking on his second goal of the rainy afternoon by scoring again off of an assist by junior Nick Mariano. This goal seemed to be the key of the game and put a damper on the energy of Newton South for the remainder of the outing.
WA’s new-gained lead however was almost halved when Newton South made one last run at the WA net but junior Derrick Naugler slid in front of an attacking Newton South player to prevent the goal.
Naugler’s performance switched from defense to offense in a matter of minutes when the junior added WA’s third, final, goal with 9:30 left in the game on a long powerful shot.
Naugler’s goal proved to be the final one, with the game ending in a 3-0 victory.
“We did well. We had to adjust to the style of play by Newton South, they played beautifully in the second half,” said Westford Academy coach Tony Dileo after the game.
