By Dean Geddes
I&M Staff Writer
In three road games this week, the boys varsity soccer team pulled off two convincing wins – 8-1 over Provincetown on Thursday and 6-1 over Chatham on Saturday – and then tied Coyle Cassidy 2-2 on Tuesday.
The team improved to 3-2-1 on the season, and 1-0 in the Lighthouse Conference with the win over Provincetown.
The Whalers are scheduled to play two Lighthouse Conference games this week, today at home against Sturgis at 3 p.m., and Monday at home against Cape Cod Academy at 3 p.m.
The Whalers defeated Coyle Cassidy 4-0 at home earlier in the season, but on Tuesday the ran into a better prepared team on the road.
In the first match, Coyle Cassidy man-marked the Whalers top scorer Caio Correa while he played at forward, but when head coach Rich Brannigan moved him back to the midfield, they backed off and as a result, it allowed Correa to dictate the offense. This time around, Coyle Cassidy man-marked Correa wherever he was on the field, and it helped slow down the Whalers’ offense.
“They were more organized and had a better plan for marking up Caio,” Brannigan said. “That was the first difference. They were also playing on their home field and didn’t have to travel.”
Coyle Cassidy struck first, in the 11th minute, but the Whalers were able to tie the game when Sebastian McFarlane fed Correa who was breaking to the goal and scored.
The game was still knotted up 1-1 in the second half, when Coyle Cassidy retook the lead on a goal with 15 minutes left in the game. Correa was then able to tie the game in the 31st minute of the second half, following a pass from Caleb Mitchell.
“I’m happy with the tie. Obviously it would be better if we won, but we knew they were a better team then the one we beat 4-0, and they were ready to play this time,” Brannigan said.
Key to victory
On-field communication helped Nantucket in its 6-1 victory over Chatham on Saturday. The Whalers jumped out to a 2-0 lead just five minutes into the game, and led 4-0 at half-time.
“Chatham is a hard, physical team, one of the more physical teams we’ve played so far. We out-passed them, and our communication was so strong that we dominated them more then we probably should have. It was a day when we could have outmatched anyone,” assistant coach Peter Färdig said.
Correa led the team with three goals and three assists. Mitchell had two goals and one assist, and McFarlane chipped in with a goal.
Right midfielder Harrison O’Rourke played a strong game, taking many outside shots and feeding the ball up to the forwards, Färdig said.
On defense, John Gray anchored the squad, filling holes by rotating and shifting the other defenders. As a result, they helped keep the pressure off Russell Bartlett who had 15 saves in net.
“He was a wall, coming off the line fast, getting on top of the shots, and cutting off the angles and talking well with the defense. There was a lot of communication in the game. That was the key to our success,” Färdig said.
Quick work
The Whalers made quick work of Lighthouse Conference rival Provincetown 8-1 on the road Thursday afternoon.
In recent years, Nantucket has gotten off to a slow start when the team travels to Provincetown, but this time it took a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the game.
The play started with Correa getting fouled just outside the box. On the free kick, he made passed to Alvaro Castro, who fired a shot that beat the Provincetown keeper. From there the Whalers opened up the floodgates, and took a 6-0 lead at halftime.
In the second half, with the game already in hand, Brannigan preached “quality over quantity,” saying that he wanted to see clean soccer played as opposed to sloppy forced scoring.
“In the second half we played better even though we only had two goals. Our team shape, team style, looked great. That momentum is potentially what we carried over and brought to the Chatham game.”
In the game Philipe Bazilio had two goals and two assists, Correa had two goals and three assists, while Mitchell, O’Rourke, Martin Manov and Castro each had a goal.
Reach Dean Geddes at sports@inkym.com
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