By Allison Goldsmith
 |
Photo by Jim Powers
Nantucket's Caio Correa dribbles the ball through two defenders dujring the Whalers' 4-1 win at Norwood. With the win, Nantucket clinched another trip to the state tourney. |
I&M Sports Editor
They are in. The boys soccer team clinched a spot in the Division III state tournament with a 4–1 victory over Norwood on Saturday.
Reaching the state tournament was just one of many goals for the boys soccer team this season. Still on the checklist: the Lighthouse Conference crown, the regular season total win record of 10 games and homefield advantage in the state tournament. With so much left to be earned, Saturday’s win was just another notch on the belt.
“We didn’t really make a big deal about it. The guys know there is still a lot of work to be done. It felt good that we took care of this a little earlier than normal, but there is still soccer to play. The guys know how important seeding is, so we didn’t want to give too much importance to qualifying,” head coach Rich Brannigan said.
The Whalers improved to 9-2-1 overall (4-0 Lighthouse Conference) with six games to play. The home Norwood game, which was postponed last Friday due to high winds, has been rescheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. Next up on the schedule for the Whalers is a league meeting at Cape Cod Academy on Wednesday.
With six games still remaining on the schedule, this Whalers squad know how important it is to win games to secure home field advantage in the playoffs. After playing one match at home in the post season last fall, Nantucket played games at Harwich and Seekonk totalling three games in five days before being eliminated. Cutting out the lengthy travel time could be advantageous for a deep playoff run this year for the experienced squad.
“Home field could be tremendous because the playoff structure is so tightly compact. It makes a game every other day for six or seven days,” Brannigan said.
 |
Photo by Jim Powers
Yuve Montenegro kicking the ball in the first half of the Whalers' game against Norwood, Saturday, Oct. 7.
|
According to published boys’ soccerstandings in The Boston Globe on Tuesday, Nantucket’s Caio Correa is ranked as the number one leading scorer in Eastern Massachusetts high school boys soccer. The sophomore stand-out has scored 23 goals and contributed with 16 assisted totalling 39 points on the season. The second place high-scorer comes from Malden with 30 points (21 goals, nine assists). Philipe Bazilio is listed as third on the Lighthouse Conference top scorers list with nine goals and nine assists for 18 points.
Against Norwood on Saturday, the Whalers set the tone early with the first of two goals from Yuvi Montenegro only two minutes into the game. Montenegro took the pass from Caio Correa at the midfield, dribbled 15 yards before drilling a shot
about 40 yards past the mis-positioned goalie.
“We figured they would be strong and they were. They were big guys. They were physical. The intensity level was really high, which is something we are not used to playing against,” Brannigan said.
Norwood plays in the Division I Bay State Herget League and has a record of 1-9-1 on the season. Prior to Saturday’s game against Nantucket, the Mustangs had scored only three goals on the season, all of which came in one game against Milton. In comparison, Nantucket has 51 goals in 12 games.
Twelve minutes after the Whalers opened the scoring, Norwood scored their fourth goal of the season off a re-start play resulting from a Nantucket obstruction penalty. The game-tying goal gave the Mustangs a boost, but the Whalers took it right back. Two minutes before the half, Philipe Bazilio scored off an assist from Correa to put Nantucket on top 2-1 at the break.
In the second half the Whalers were able to shut down the Mustangs, Brannigan said. Correa scored in the eighth minute off a Steve Cranston assist and eight minutes later, Montenegro scored his second goal of the game - an unassisted shot off a corner kick into the goal.
Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com
|
