By Allison Goldsmith
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Photo by Jim Powers
Nantucket’s Yuvi Montenegro controls the ball with a Norwell player defending in the playoff quarterfinals on Tuesday at home. The Whalers won 2-1. They went on to beat Seekonk Thursday, and lost to Old Rochester Saturday in the Div. III South finals.
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I&M Sports Editor
Sudden death. Even the phrase sounds ominous. But it didn’t faze the boys varsity soccer team Tuesday. The Whalers were pushed deep into a second overtime of sudden death against Norwell in the quarterfinal round of the Division III South state tournament before pulling out the 2-1 victory.
With a minute and a half remaining on his home field, Caio Correa took the feed from Toby Glidden at midfield and gracefully pushed the ball toward the goal through four defenders. With two players guarding against the shot, Correa put a perfect touch on the ball and tapped it past the keeper to send the Whalers to their first-ever state tournament semifinal appearance.
The seventh-ranked Whalers advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over 10th-ranked Cardinal Spellman on Sunday, also at home. Nantucket will face Seekonk at Brockton High School today at 5 p.m. for the right to play in the Div. III South finals.
“We have never had a semifinal team. So as far as school history, we are excited for Nantucket High School,” head coach Rich Brannigan said. “Nothing seems to faze them. Every game gets more tense as you go along. We try to take it a game at a time. We weren’t looking past this game.”
Thursday’s semifinal match-up is a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal round, where a dangerous Seekonk squad knocked the Whalers out of the tournament. The Warriors play in the South Coast League earned a sixth seed this season with a 13-2-3 overall record.
“We really need to score more goals. We have the opportunities. We definitely dominate the games, we just need to finish. We have to be patient. It will come,” senior co-captain Glidden said.
Tourney time
The Whalers controlled the ball in both tournament games this week, allowing goals only off direct and indirect kicks.
On Tuesday against Norwell, it took the Whalers until the 30th minute of the first half to score. Caleb Mitchell fed the ball to Correa at the top of the box. The sophomore star settled the ball at his feet and sent the shot on the ground right through the legs of the Norwell goalie.
The Whalers spent a lot of time in front of the Norwell goal, but led only 1-0 at the half.
“We had chances to put them away all game long. It is about patience. They never gave up and the chances were there all game,” Brannigan said.
In the second half, Norwell’s Mike Pelletier fed the indirect kick in front of the net to junior Colin Henry for the game-tying score. Later in the half, the Clippers earned a penalty kick and the opportunity to take the lead, but Henry’s shot went wide left off the post to keep the game knotted at one. The Whalers continued with at least six solid chances on net in the half, but neither side could notch the game-winner in regulation.
The game was in the second of two 10-minute overtime sudden death periods when Correa tapped in the game winner.
“They were getting more nervous, but playing through last year’s (overtime playoff victory over Harwich) game is a benefit for this team,” Brannigan said.
Been there before
Nine of the 11 starters in Sunday’s first round playoff game had played through last year’s playoff run. Yuvi Montenegro and Philipe Bazilio were the lone rookies in Sunday’s game. Shaking off any first-game jitters, Montenegro scored twice and Bazilio scored the game-winning goal for the Whalers. Correa had two assists and Mitchell had one as Nantucket advanced with the 3-2 win.
“We just gave them lots of opportunities to stay in the game. We should have beat them three, four, five to nothing. We just kept giving them these gifts. If we had eliminated that part of the game, we would have killed them. They weren’t able to put together any offense, danger or offensive threats, except on the opportunities we were giving them,” Brannigan said. “The bright side was, the kids were in the lead from the beginning. Cardinal Spellman had to keep fighting to gain a tie, but we had the answer.”
Cardinal Spellman (Brockton, Mass.) plays in the Catholic Central Large League and finished in second place to St. Mary’s. The Cardinals earned a 10 seed in the tournament with an overall regular-season record of 13-5-1 (8-2-1 in the league).
Even with the goal-scoring drought, the Whalers had no trouble handling the Cardinals early. Correa, Montenegro and Bazilio all made calculated runs at the net. Cardinal senior goalie John Norris had a number of saves early to keep the Whalers off the board.
In the eighth minute there was a scramble in front of the net. Correa took the first shot, which was saved by Norris, but Montenegro took the loose ball on the left side and tapped it in for the 1-0 lead.
Less than three minutes later there was confusion on the Whalers’ field. Cardinal Spellman’s Andrew Mullen lined up to take a direct kick off a penalty. The Nantucket players thought it was an indirect kick and therefore no one made an attempt to stop the direct shot on net. The goal counted as the referees asserted they had called the direct kick.
With the score tied at one, Montenegro and Bazilio put back-to-back point blank shots on net, but Norris thwarted both attempts. Finally with five minutes remaining in the half, Caleb Mitchell fed the ball to Montenegro, who took a right-footed shot from outside the box toward the left post and out of reach of the goalie. The Whalers led 2-1 at the half.
Cardinal Spellman tied the game only two minutes into the second half. Again on a direct kick, Mullen took the shot over the Whalers’ wall and into the Whalers’ net.
Despite being triple-teamed every time he touched the ball, Correa had a number of chances on net to put the Whalers back on top.
Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com
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