Tewksbury BU13-1 Blasts Wilmington; BU14-1 Wins A Pair

(Editor's note: The following information was submitted by coaches and administrators of the )

BU13-1 Tewksbury 7 Burlington  0

The Tewksbury BU13-1 team beat Burlington 7-0 this Saturday.  From the opening the Redmen pressed the play into the Burlington side.  They moved well as a team and left little space for the opponents to move the ball.  The back line stopped Burlington early in their attacks and pushed the ball quickly up-field.   Five minutes in, a steal and then a long pass from Eric Gallant went down the sidelines to Ameen Kalkhoran who took it down the right side and scored from just outside the box.

Tewksbury had the speed and aggressive style to keep the play out of our goal area.  The boys were moving the ball well and also stopping Burlington attacks by midfield.  A quick shot from the left side by a fast Chris McCabe made the score 2-0 midway through the first half.  The team only allowed two shots near our goal in the first half which ended 4-0.

Our passing wasn't always on target but the backline quickly moved the ball from our side on every Burlington attack.  Ethan Trudeau and Brendan Lucas played strong in the midfield and were involved in numerous plays the first half.  Mixing up the positions for the second half Brendan Murray played keeper and did a fine job controlling the few balls that made it to him.  The Redmen continued their push forward while the defense held strong.

An attack by our forwards brought the Burlington goalie too far out of his area.  Making a smart decision Adam Colon chipped the ball up and over the goalie and in for the score.  Burlington’s goalie did stop numerous shots by the Redmen in the second half.  On every shot a Redmen took, there were at least two other Redmen crashing the net to get the rebound and try to finish the job.  Still needing to work on spreading the field the boys improved on their spacing the second half and moved the ball to open spaces quite well.  Late in the game with 5 Redmen in the Burlington box a shot from the far right side went through a wall of players and was deflected in for the goal making the score 7-0.  While still having room for improvement the Redmen played a solid overall game and went to 6-0 in their division.

BU 14-1 Tewksbury 5 Wilmington 0

 BU 14-1 Tewksbury 6 Dracut 3

The Tewksbury Boys under 14 Division 1 Soccer team remains undefeated after impressive wins on Tuesday, October 14th vs Wilmington and Saturday, October 22nd vs Dracut.

In Tuesday night’s game, the Redmen immediately took control of the game and Wilmington never stood a chance.  The first goal of the game was a group effort.   Defensive midfielder Alec Diciacco sent the ball flying up the field to forward Christian Lucchesi, who passed it to Josh Cabral.   Josh kicked a beautiful crossing pass to Connor McLean, who headed into the net.

 Tewksbury kept the pressure on as Petros Nacopoulos passed the ball to Connor Blair, who shot it into the right hand corner of the net despite the valiant diving effort of the Wilmington goalie.  Later in the first half, Josh Cabral had a free kick after a little roughing from a Wilmington player.  He kicked the ball to Alex Froment, who passed it to Connor Blair who put it in the goal again and the half ended 3-0.

The Tewksbury offense did not let up in the second half.  Josh Cabral made a nifty pass to Dario Riparo who kicked it perfectly to Connor MacLean who put the ball in the net for Tewksbury’s fourth goal.  The Redmen were back at it Andrew Boudreau sent the ball flying over the heads of the two Wilmington defensemen and Connor Blair hustled and outran Wilmington’s defensemen to have a one on one with the goalie that he sailed past the keeper, giving Blair a hat trick for the day.  With a 5 goal lead, Tewksbury goalie, Nick McKeon came out of the net to replace Blair as the striker.  Despite great efforts from Dario Riparo and John Donovan to feed Nick the ball, the Wilmington keeper made some great saves to keep Nick from scoring.  As darkness descended, the final whistle blew and Tewksbury had another win and Nick McKeon had another shutout.

Saturday’s game was a different story, Tewksbury trailed for most of the game against Dracut until the Redmen exploded in the last few minutes of the game to go ahead and win 6-3.  Dracut played tough all game and utilized its speed to stay ahead of Tewksbury in the early going.  Tewksbury’s first goal of the game was a corner kick that Josh Cabral boomed to Matt Bodoni who passed it high to Ryan Bain so he could head it into the net.  Ryan Bain, who has thrived all year on penalty kicks, scored again with a rocket on a penalty kick to make it 2-2.

In the last few seconds of the first half with Tewksbury trailing 3-2, Connor Blair tied it up on a cross from Christian Lucchesi. Or did he?   The goal was challenged with the referee saying the goalie had possession of the ball when Blair kicked it.  With that controversial call, the goal was called back and for the first time all season, Tewksbury went into the half trailing.

Tewksbury came back after the half determined to make something happen.  Dario Riparo unassisted, dribbled the ball up the field and put the tying goal into the right hand corner.  Inspired and energized, the flood gates opened.  Josh Cabral scored minutes later for goal 4.  Dario Riparo scored his second goal with an assist from Connor MacLean over the keeper for goal 5 for Tewksbury.  Josh Cabral ended the game with a bullet on a direct free kick into the top left corner of the net to give the Redmen the 6-3 win over Dracut.  Tewksbury coach Norberto Felix said “ I witnessed a team that refused to lose and knew when to turn up the pressure on Dracut at the right time.  I have to give Dracut credit, because I think this was one of the toughest games we have had all season.  To be able to come back after trailing twice in this game is remarkable.  We came back with a vengeance!  I'm already a proud coach, but when these kids play with that much heart and determination, it just makes me walk a little taller!”

Tewksbury attempts to keep their unbeaten season alive in a tough match vs Billerica on Saturday.