Long Trek Results in Positive Outcome

Darrell Beaupe
On Wednesday, our crew boarded a bus with the Varsity boys and ventured across the state to play our first match of the season.  The weather was perfect and our spirits were high.  We held high hopes that this year would make up for the lackluster performance that plagued our team last fall.  This was going to be our year!
 
Veteran Jacob Hebbel and self-appointed “captain-for-the-day” Dan Pimentel proved to be a lucky combination at the coin toss and we left Brewster facing the sun in the second half.  The early minutes of the match we saw most of the play bouncing between Jacob and Sebastian Keen in the back and Ryder Perry and Finn Bunk at mid-field.  Eventually, Brewster earned the first of many corner kicks, but Finn was able to shut it down.  He quickly passed the ball up to a rushing Ian Surgenor who deftly passed it to Alvero Olivo Campos.
 
With only two minutes into the game, I will pause for a second. Last year one of our biggest problems was we rarely scored.  Oddly, we couldn’t understand the correlation between shooting the ball at the net and earning goals.  We played hard, passed well, and enjoyed each other’s company, but we lost games we dominated because we seemed to forget to kick the ball at the net.  Now back to the game.
 
Alvaro received Ian’s pass, deked one defenseman, and blasted a long shot from well outside the box.  Two minutes into the game and we had our first shot.  The ball went just high of the top corner, but we had shot the ball at the net!!  Alvaro broke the curse.  In the next fifteen minutes, we would see more shots from Alvaro, Dan, and Finn.  It was a pleasure to watch.
 
Down on our end, Aiden Bean and Michael Jung were keeping Brewster at bay.  Bleyton Hopps-Thompson was also proving his skills in the net and keeping the Bobcats off the board.  Then with fewer than twenty minutes played, Devon LeBlanc received a nice pass from Matt Fussteig and brought it into the box where he was tackled by, ironically, a buddy who attends BA.  The whistle was blown, hands shook, and we saw Alvaro placing the ball and preparing to take the PK.  He had told me before the game that he would score.  He did not lie.  He placed the ball into the back of the next and we were up by one.
 
We continued to see saves from Blayton and shots from Finn until Brewster earned yet another corner kick.  This time the ball was skillfully lofted to the far side.  Blayton deflected it away from the goal, but a BA striker was able to redirect it in for a very well-played goal.  We were tied up, one apiece.
 
Although there were no more goals in the first half, we did see great hustle from a Ben-Gay fortified Tom Huang who recently found his miracle panacea and now swears by it.  It clearly works for he thwarted many drives into our end.  Mickey Winham also displayed speed and grit, even taking a tumble with two defenders inside the box.  Unfortunately, this time no whistle was heard.  Finally, the half ended and we gathered to discuss what we had seen.  And, what the coaches saw pleased us.
 
Brewster came off the bench hot and determined to get ahead quickly.  Blayton was busy but dominated each attempt.  Then after seven minutes, Devon moved up the field with the ball.  He passed it up to Will Sewell who was near the top of the box.  Will spied Ryder moving toward the net and sent him the ball.  Suddenly, Ryder was one-on-one with the advancing keeper and sent a well-controlled finesse shot across to the far post and we were up by one again.
 
Again, Brewster redoubled its efforts and kept Blayton and the defense busy.  Jacob and Eric Chung were machines on defense.  In the middle, Simon Nowlan and Angus Spence fed passes up to our strikers so that Adi Lesbek and Will could take more shots on net.
 
Then in the twenty-seventh minute, the boys thought to repeat what had worked before, but with a twist:  Will Sewell passed the ball to a charging Ryder and he blasted the ball with his left foot into the right front corner.  We were up by two. 
 
Brewster wasn’t ready to give up and continued to keep Blayton busy.  Then with fewer than eight minutes left in the game, Will Sewell caught a long ball over the heads of the defenders and faced the keeper one-on-one.  The goalie dove in for the ball before crashing into Will, but Will was able to send a slow roller past him and toward the open net.  Suddenly, a Bobcat defender raced in from nowhere and was able to deflect the ball away before we earned another point. 
 
Minutes later Brewster gave one more thrust and sent a long ball in that Blayton deflected safely out of the way before the final whistle was heard.
 
All-in-all, it was a fine game and fun to watch.  We look forward to facing off against Brewster again next Friday at home, but before then we will match up against Dublin on home turf at 2:30.
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