By Tim DeLouchrey
Sports Liaison
& Ellie Smith
Feature Editor
Boys’ soccer faced the Acton-Boxboro Colonials Sunday night under the lights at Alumni Stadium. It was a well-fought game that wasn’t decided until the final sixteen minutes, with Westford Academy on the wrong end.
The game started out with complete domination by the Colonials. Attacking early and often, AB was in Ghost territory for the majority of the first twenty minutes of the game. Despite many great passing sequences and scoring opportunities, great defense by junior keeper Sam Brewer, junior Shane Kilday, and senior Nick Mariano kept out any potential goals.
WA was able to sully any clean shots with constant pressure until the thirty-one minute mark when AB had three quality looks at the net that they were unable to convert. Two of those shots were deflected before they reached the keeper, with Brewer saving the third shot. From there, the Ghosts fought hard just to keep the ball out of their half and were struggling to retain consistent possession. AB had another look at the twenty-seven minute mark that was saved by Brewer.
Signs of life emerged from there as the game began to even out. An AB corner kick was rejected by WA and led to a fast break opportunity for senior Scott McCord. Unfortunately, the Colonials applied high pressure, not allowing McCord to get off an effective shot. It was saved by the keeper.
AB began to get into rhythm once again, but were unable to consistently penetrate WA territory due to more excellent defense from Mariano. The only scoring opportunity the Colonials got was a long distance kick after a corner kick was headed out by a WA defender. AB almost had another nice chance of a fast break, but senior Rishab Kodia was able to apply enough pressure to get the ball back for WA. At the fifteen minute mark, the Ghosts were able to press hard into AB territory, but no one was able to get off a clean shot, as AB defenders swarmed at any openings. The WA attack was fairly consistent for five minutes, until AB was able to push back.
Westford struggled to contain an AB corner kick, as no defenders were able to get the ball away from the front of the net. It was eventually volleyed up, and AB missed a wide open header at the eight minute mark. A couple minutes later, AB gained another fast break opportunity. Brewer came out of net and out of the goalie’s box to stop the break away. Though it saved a goal, Brewer was given a yellow card, and WA had to sub in Nick Mizzoni at keeper.
“I didn’t want them to score,” said Brewer regarding the physical stop. The majority of the Alumni Stadium crowd did not receive the issuing of a yellow card very well.
Mizzoni recorded a great stop on the penalty kick following the yellow card. However, AB came back with another great scoring opportunity. Mizzoni missed a diving save which was fortunately deflected by another WA defender. He recovered nicely however, as he recorded a save immediately after getting back up. The half ended 0-0.
The second half opened up like the start of the game, with the time of possession being dominated by AB. However, WA recovered strong, as they were able to get multiple close opportunities at the thirty-four minute mark. WA began to control the rhythm of the game from there. Controlling possession as well as getting shots off at the twenty-five, twenty-three, and twenty minute marks. None of these were very clean, as AB played extremely persistent defense.
It was a very physical game from there, with both teams scrapping to score the decisive goal. AB finally scored on a header off of a corner kick at the sixteen minute mark, putting the Colonials up 1-0. From there, all WA attempts were put down by AB, as they played conservatively, and ended up going home with a win.
[doptg id=”51″]
