The Marblehead High boys soccer team (8-3) blew out Gloucester, 9-0 to begin last week at home on Oct. 6. But two days later, also at Piper, they suffered a heartbreaking loss to Beverly, 2-1. As of Oct. 10, the Magicians are seeded 16th in the Division 2 power rankings, and the only Northeastern Conference team ahead of them is Masco (11-2), and the Chieftains are fifth overall. There are 61 teams in this division statewide.
The Marblehead boys were certainly taking nothing for granted in the Gloucester game, even though the Fishermen are in the middle of a rebuild.
“Gloucester has been struggling, but we still didn’t want to take them for granted,” said coach Elmer Magana. “Our boys came out like sharks on Shark Week, and quickly scored the first goal one minute into the game.”
Mark Vinokur was credited with the first two goals of the game, which opened up an avalanche of markers – four to be exact — by the home team in a span of 30 minutes.
“I called a timeout at that point to ask the boys to work on completing their passes,” said Magana. “That request was forgotten by the second half, maybe because they are teenagers, competitors or simply smell blood in the water like sharks.”
When it was 9-0, Magana called a second timeout, and again he asked them to pass the ball back and forth, and this time they did just that until the final whistle.
“Although we won the game, I felt really bad by the final score, not only because it was no longer necessary to score more than three, but because the Gloucester coach is my brother-in-law, and we haven’t spoken since that game,” Magana said.
At the other end of the pitch, goalie Matias Watts-Cruz earned his fifth shutout of the year.
The veteran Marblehead coach singled out winger Ilan Druker and Vinokur, a center midfielder, for their great scoring games. Druker, a senior captain, matched his junior teammate in goals with two, along with sophomore Quinn Cohane. Senior captain Jared Halpern, freshman Mitchell Leighton and junior Erik Badzak each accounted for one apiece. Badzak also set up the second Druker goal, while Halpern helped out on his first tally. Center midfielder Bubacarr Jallow also earned the coach’s praise with four assists that led the team by a wide margin in that department.
But the Beverly game that followed was definitely more competitive. “Games involving these two teams never disappoint,” said Magana. “It always lives up to its expectations.”
It was once again a back-and-forth battle for ball possession that also featured gritty defense, great goaltending and a big crowd supporting both teams at Piper.
In this version of the Clash of the Titans, scoring first doesn’t necessarily guarantee victory. Miles Fontela-Tuttle scored a great goal inside the box after a quick through ball to him by Halpern. It was the lone first half goal by both sides.
The Panthers tied it up early on in the second half, and then both squads went on the hunt for the decisive goal. When fans thought it was going to be a draw, a high towering throw-in into the box was barely deflected into the net by Beverly with less than two minutes left on the clock. It was indeed a heartbreaking way to lose another classic by both these teams.
“Although we didn’t match the height of the Panthers, we matched them in skills, ball movement and controlling the tempo of the game,” said Magana. “But it just wasn’t enough, even though we did outplay them in many aspects of the game. I can’t say enough about our goalie – Matias Watts-Cruz – who made key saves throughout to keep us in the fight.”
Magana then added: “I’m beyond proud of our boys for going toe-to-toe with one of the top Division 1 schools in the state. They never gave up, while battling until the final whistle. It was simply another NEC Classic that (eventually) turned into another great night of soccer under the (Piper) lights.”
