Beat Somerset-Berkley 4-0, Agawam 1-0
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High boys’ soccer team is off to the state semifinals for the first time since 1997.
The Warriors, who will meet Hopkinton today, 4 p.m. at Woburn High, collected two shutouts in a row at their home Landrigan Field to get to the Final Four.
After beating No. 28 Milford 5-2 in the first round, the Warriors cruised past No. 12 Somerset-Berkley 4-0 in the Sweet 16 on Thursday and then held on to beat a tough, No. 29 Agawam team 1-0 in the quarterfinals on Saturday night.
The Wakefield soccer community will now follow the Warriors to Woburn after three exciting home games have sparked a dream of witnessing just the third Wakefield High boys’ soccer team to win a state championship (’97 and ’89).
“I’ve said it a thousand times but I’m just so happy for them. They have earned this. It hasn’t come easy,” said head coach Matt Angelo. “I can’t thank the student section and the community enough. All of their support means the world to us. I hope they know how much we appreciate it because I’m sure when these guys are tired on the field that’s helped push them along. Playing in front of our home crowd is a dream. This is always the wish and it’s become a reality.”
Sending the Warriors through to the Final Four was senior captain Darragh Casey whose successful penalty kick with 10 minutes left proved to be the game winner against Agawam while senior keeper Andrew Valley and the Warrior defense held strong for their second consecutive state tourney shutout.
The PK was earned after a handball in the box on a shot by senior captain Marc Laverdiere. It was a sequence started by the defense. After sophomore Aidan Bligh stopped a through ball, senior captain Brian Purcell cleared it up to Casey who carried through the midfield and found senior Elias Anjim on the right wing. A give-and-go sent Casey up into the box followed by a perfect trailing cross to Laverdiere who one-timed it and likely would have found the back of the net if not for the handball. With plenty of jockeying going on behind the penalty dot, Casey calmly stepped up and buried it in the bottom right corner, too strong for the Agawam keeper who actually guessed correctly on the shot.
Following an epic celebration with their fans, the Warriors went to work on maintaining the shutout, an effort highlighted by the back line including Purcell, Bligh, senior Frank Leone and sophomore Matt Keefe.
Agawam had a corner with under 8 to play but senior captain Reid Festel cleared it with a header. Valley later fought through contact to beat a striker to a ball, concluding a phenomenal and confident game from the keeper.
The vast majority of the tug-of-war featured an epic battle for possession throughout the midfield, a gameplan fine with the visiting Brownies who came into Landrigan following consecutive overtime wins, first over No. 4 Nashoba, then in penalty kicks against No. 13 Marlborough.
In the end, Wakefield wouldn’t be denied on their way to a Final Four banner and chance to play for a state title.
The tense, 1-0 victory was proof that the 2023 Warriors can win in a variety of ways, especially coming after their thrilling, 4-0 triumph over Somerset-Berkley last week.
Sophomore Jack Millward put Wakefield in front with two first-half goals while Casey added two more in the second half.
“I don’t think the score reflected the toughness of this game,” said Angelo. “(Somerset-Berkley) is extremely physical, fast and well-coached. I don’t think we played particularly well in the first half – they did a lot of things that were frustrating us and we couldn’t figure it out on the fly. But it’s ground hog day with this team: we make adjustments, they listen to them and execute those adjustments in the second half. I thought the second half was a much better version of us, tactically and energy-wise.”
Casey thought he had his first of the tournament early on with a perfect chip over the charging goalie but a Raider defender made a miraculous play, clearing it off the goal line and falling into the net to rob Casey of a goal.
Millward put the Warriors up 12 minutes into the game anyway, finishing a perfect cross from Casey after he beat his defender down the left sideline.
The Warriors worked hard from there, especially the defense including multiple tough clears from Purcell and terrific play from right back Leone who was frustrating his opponents and getting the crowd involved on the near side of the field – an effort replicated in the second half by left back, Keefe.
Although not in complete control, the Warriors had a gritty effort to keep the lead and Millward scored his team-high 4th of the tournament on another fantastic ball in, this time from freshman Alex DeMorais who made multiple defenders miss before setting up the striker in front. Millward took his time, using one perfect touch to set up a strong finish and get the fans at Landrigan going again with just 4 minutes left in the half.
Like coach Angelo said, the Warriors not only maintained the momentum in the second half, but they put the game out of reach early when Casey converted a penalty kick just two minutes in after Anjim was taken out by the keeper while trying to run onto a ball.
Casey’s top-shelf finish was followed up by a Steph Curry “night night” celebration in front of a rowdy Red Sea.
The Warriors took it from there, including Valley’s save of the tournament to that point on a left to right dive and one-handed deflection to keep the visitors off the board. Casey’s second of the game was on an attempted cross that was misplayed by the keeper and found its way in following pressure from Millward.
“A shutout and now scoring 9 goals in two tournament games…we can’t really complain right now,” said Angelo after the win.
The Warriors will now continue their epic journey in the hopes of following the blueprint of ’97 – something they have visualized after watching highlights of that team’s run led by legendary Wakefield coach Dick Kelley who was at Landrigan for Wakefield’s win over Agawam.
The coach likely sees similar qualities and championship pedigree on this team, led by Angelo, one of Kelley’s many former players.
With the support of so many in Wakefield’s storied soccer history, these Warriors will lean on that pedigree to attack their next challenge, a talented 8th-seeded Hopkinton team (15-2-4) who has tournament wins over No. 25 Duxbury (3-1), No. 24 North Attleborough (3-2) and No. 1 Bedford (2-1).
The winner will play in the State Championship game against No. 6 Oliver Ames (18-3-1) who defeated Melrose 2-1 in overtime in last night’s other semifinal. That State Final is scheduled for Saturday, time and location to be determined.
“Our motto right now is just ‘one game at a time,’” said Angelo. “You know, I’ll steal Brian Purcell’s quote from the last article: our mentality is ‘Who is next? Because Wakefield is coming.’”