WA Boys’ Soccer’s three game winning streak was snapped by Bedford, as they suffered a 2-0 loss at home on Tuesday, Oct. 10. A penalty kick resulted in a shift of momentum and an insurmountable deficit in favor of Bedford.
Amidst their best three game stretch of the season, WA entered their game against Bedford with ample confidence, but came out of the gates with lackluster effort. The first ten minutes of the game were completely controlled by Bedford, who spent much of the time on their offensive end of the field.
Despite the slow offensive start for WA, their defense held down the fort for the first quarter of playing time. Great plays from senior Griffin Conway, senior Ethan Goff-Chervin, and sophomore goalie Jack Bussey helped prevent Bedford from scoring an early goal and provided time for WA’s offense to heat up.
“We definitely played down to their level and did not focus on playing the way we normally play,” Conway said. “We had a game plan going in which helped, but we played down to our competition.”
20 minutes into the game, junior Lucas Dos Santos led the first offensive push for WA, finally putting some pressure on the Bedford defense. After a few more minutes of constant changes of possession, more solid defense from Goff-Chervin, and a great hustle play by senior Owen Markesich to award WA a corner kick, WA began to find their footing.
With about 15 minutes remaining in the first half, WA really began to control the pace of the match. All season they have utilized a very slow-paced and controlled style of play to find success, and at this point in the game, WA was finally beginning to find that identity again.
WA continued to control possession of the ball and put serious pressure on the Bedford defense. Dos Santos and senior captain Lucas Albuquerque continuously pushed the ball down the field, creating plenty of looks near the goal, but WA was just unable to find the back of the net.
The next ten minutes of play were consistent with the rest of the first half to this point. Both offenses made a few good pushes downfield, while both defenses put on a display of how to bend without breaking.
After continuing to control the pace throughout the entirety of the second half of the first 40 minutes of play, a controversial handball was called on WA with the clock winding down in the first half, awarding Bedford a penalty kick.
A kick into the top left corner of the net gave Bedford a 1-0 lead heading into halftime, despite a good effort from Bussey in net.
After a frustrating first half of soccer, WA came out of the gates hot in the second half, with Goff-Chervin just missing a goal with a header near the net. Bedford struggled to maintain possession of the ball as WA’s defense and offense was working well together to win the time of possession battle.
Despite the clean play from WA, Bedford still maintained a 1-0 lead and WA continued to struggle to put quality shots on net despite constant aggressive play by Dos Santos and Albuquerque.
With about 25 minutes remaining in the game and WA still down 1-0, pressure began to mount. Some miscommunication on offense by WA allowed Bedford to gain some offensive momentum heading down the field, and after a defensive breakdown near the net, Bedford scored their second goal off of a great pass to the center of the field.
With Bedford’s lead extended to 2-0, WA began to try to apply serious pressure on Bedford’s defense, as the clock continued to wind down. The pressure of the clock caused WA’s offense to become more oriented around long passes, resulting in Bedford’s defense being able to intercept the ball on several occasions.
“We did not move the ball very well,” Albuquerque said. “Instead, we kicked too many long balls and did not maintain possession.”
With under ten minutes now remaining in the game, WA began to try to make their final push. A great pass to the center by Conway gave WA their first chance at a goal in a while, but Bedford’s defense was still able to keep WA off the scoreboard.
Several impressive offensive pushes from Dos Santos and great shots from Albuquerque and junior Nihal Mark provided one last attempt at a comeback, but Bedford’s defense and goalie proved too stout.
As the clock expired, Bedford secured a 2-0 win over WA, dropping WA’s record to 4-5 on the season.
“We did a good job of winning balls out of the air and getting into scoring positions, but we were not able to finish our chances,” Albuquerque said. “Hopefully we will be able to learn from this game and get back on track to our goals.”
WA’s next game is away vs. Concord-Carlisle on Thursday, Oct. 12.
