By MARC GAGNE
WINCHESTER — “This team is made for big games,” coach Matt Angelo has said of the Wakefield boys’ soccer team and Monday’s game against powerhouse rival Winchester was a perfect example of this sentiment.
Winchester, a Division 2 state champion in 2019 and undefeated this season up until a few days before their game with Wakefield, was a fierce opponent. The Warriors kept up with Winchester stride for stride, however, so that the game ended up in a hard-fought draw, 1-1.
Winchester proved to be skilled at maintaining possession from the first moment so that Wakefield’s defensive players and goalie Andrew Valley were on high alert and made amazing plays throughout the game. Charles Gagne, Aidan Bligh, Matt Keefe, and captains Brian Purcell and Darragh Casey intercepted passes, stole the ball from beneath the feet of the Winchester players and booted crosses out of the way of Valley, keeping Winchester from scoring for the first 15 minutes of the game.
With 25 minutes left in the first half, one of Winchester’s attackers dribbled up the right side toward the net, and Valley made the decision to come out of the net and cut him off. The Winchester player was able to make a nice pass around Valley to his teammate who was standing in front of the goal and the ball was then easily put in with nobody in the net.
Soon after the Winchester goal, captain Reid Festel sent a long ball that bounced over the Winchester goalie’s head. The goalie had to turn around and race Casey to the ball, but neither player was able to get a foot on and it rolled to the right of the net. Wakefield players Guy Revah, Jack Millward, Alex De Morais, and Casey all had quality shots before the end of the first half, but no one was able to capitalize.
Wakefield was able to hold Winchester to one goal for the first half with impressive defensive plays by Purcell and numerous saves by Valley.
In the second half, Wakefield had a promising chance when Elias Anjim stole the ball from a defender near the Winchester goalie and made a strong attempt to score by quickly getting a shot off, but his shot was saved by the Winchester goalie.
The next chance for Wakefield came when Frank Leone sent a ball high into the box, forcing the Winchester goalie to come out of the net and dive to punch it out. Anjim sprinted to the ball and reached it before the Winchester defenders. He then passed the ball to Casey who tapped it into the bottom right corner, tying the score at 1-1. Casey and his teammates ran over to the fence to cheer with the Wakefield fans who had made the trip to Winchester to see the Warriors play.
Wakefield players continued with their strong efforts to press and score throughout the rest of the game but were unable to force the ball into the net. Fortunately, they were also able to prevent Winchester from scoring as well with continued saves by Valley, including one instance when Valley had to jump high into the air and tip a ball in back of him and over the net. The team was happy to come out of a match with a top-ranked, now Div. 1 Winchester team with a tie.
Regarding beating such a tough team and his role in creating the tying goal, Elias Anjim said, “The odds were stacked against us, as we were competing against a good D1 team away on their senior day, but ultimately it was just another game day for us and we showed that we can hang with elite competition. As a crucial player on the team in an attacking position, it felt very good to assist the team in getting such an important goal as ending in a draw really helped our ranking and advancements in the league.”
The Warriors (6-3-1), now ranked 9th in Div. 2 by the MIAA, will host Reading (2-3-4) today at 4:15 p.m. and Wilmington (1-5-3) on Friday at 4:15 p.m.