By MARC GAGNE
WAKEFIELD — After a triumphant win against the Middlesex League’s top-ranked team, Arlington, on Sept. 12, the Wakefield High boys’ soccer team went on the road and came away with a split, losing to Woburn 2-0 on Sept. 14 and beating Wilmington 4-0 on Sept. 19.
On Thursday night, the Warriors were back on their home turf, gearing up for another big win against another top-ranked team, Melrose. Once again, the Warriors treated the hometown crowd to a thriller, resulting in a 2-1 win.
Melrose started the game with the ball and got right to it with a long punt in the air downfield that was quickly stopped and kicked away by Wakefield defenders. From that point forward, the game remained extremely fast paced with every player eager to contribute to his team.
Wakefield had its first real chance when Darragh Casey passed to Marc Laverdiere, and the ball was kicked out by a Melrose defender to force a corner kick. Elias Anjim booted one of his strong, well-placed kicks from the corner, but this one was cleared by Melrose. Another corner kick was taken by Anjim soon after, and this time it came right back to him, but his cross went over the net.
A Melrose chance was stopped by Matt Keefe, who made a nice defensive play. The ball bounced out to a Melrose player who fired a shot over the net from outside the box.
A strong opportunity for Wakefield to score next came on another corner kick from Anjim. Charles Gagne attempted to head this kick in, but the ball bounced off the post. When Jack Millward tried to score on the rebound, the Melrose goalie made an amazing save. After this, came a combined defensive play by Aidan Bligh and Brian Purcell to stop a Melrose player dribbling down the left side of the field toward the Wakefield goal.
The Warriors put the first tally on the scoreboard when Millward passed to Laverdiere, who kicked a beautifully-placed ball in the left mid-section of the net from outside the box to make the score 1-0 with 24 minutes left in the first half. Multiple corner kicks from freshman Alex De Morais followed, along with shots from Gagne and Anjim without Wakefield being able to capitalize again.
At one point, a Melrose attacker had to race Wakefield goalie Andrew Valley to the ball. Valley beat him to it and was able to clear it but the Melrose attacker’s momentum caused him to collide with Valley and take out his legs. This play resulted in a yellow card for the Melrose player and Valley was fortunately able to get up without injury.
The first half ended with an impressive defensive play by Frankie Leone, skilled dribbling from Casey, a shot from Millward and multiple shots from Melrose players that did not get into the net.
Early second half action included a shot and corner kick from Anjim, a nice defensive clear from Reid Festel and many saves by Valley.
Melrose was able to tie the score at 1-1 on a penalty kick that was perfectly placed in the bottom left corner of the net. Wakefield had a chance to pull ahead when Gagne booted a perfect pass to De Morais, who just missed the net wide. Millward tried to finish the shot, but could not reach it in time.
Not long after this chance, a Melrose defender tripped Anjim in the box, causing a penalty kick for Wakefield. Casey confidently took the penalty shot and put it in the back of the net with 7 minutes left in the game. The Melrose goalie was able to get his fingers on the ball but the shot was too powerful for him to stop. A crowd of students watching the game cheered loudly and celebrated this go-ahead goal with the team.
The game ended with a Melrose cross and through ball that were both stopped by Wakefield and the team and crowd once again cheered for Wakefield soccer’s first victory against Melrose in years.
On scoring the winning goal for the team, captain Darragh Casey said, “It’s always a great feeling to score a goal against your biggest rival. It felt even sweeter this time considering it won us the game. Everyone rose to the occasion today and did what they had to do to get the job done.”
On Saturday, the Warriors cruised past Burlington 6-0 in the Kicks for Cancer Tournament, which took place at Concord-Carlisle High School. Wakefield moved to 4-2 with that win, their third straight. The Warriors will host Stoneham (2-1-1) tomorrow at 4:15 p.m.