Top-seeded Wakefield plays No. 4 Hingham on Tuesday night in Walpole
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — “Man, do these games take years off my life,” joked Wakefield head coach Matt Angelo after his team held on for a gutsy, 1-0 victory over Revere in the Div. 2 quarterfinals.
Of course, any Wakefield fan at Landrigan Field on Tuesday night would concur and perhaps only in a half-joking manner.
The Warriors and Patriots battled tooth and nail for 80 minutes through cold and windy conditions at Landrigan, the prize of a Final Four appearance pushing them onward.
A scoreless first half continued into the second with the intensity reaching a new level while onlookers bundled up, wondering if they’d be in it for the long haul of overtime and perhaps penalty kicks.
THE WARRIORS punched their ticket to the Final Four with a hard-earned 1-0 win over Revere on Tuesday night at Landrigan Field. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
“You get that pit in your stomach and just try to push that overtime thought down because you don’t want to wait any longer,” said Angelo. “Everyone is banged up after that game so we definitely didn’t want to play any extra minutes.”
Alex De Morais agreed.
The sophomore scored what would end up being the game-winner and the only ball to find the back of the net in this one with 21 minutes to go.
The goal came just seconds after freshman goalie Kai Mercer charged and caught a floating free kick in traffic and punted it back to Revere territory. Junior Matt Keefe controlled it and moved it out to junior Mhamed Boukataya on the left wing to officially start the rush. Boukataya played a perfect through ball on the run to De Morais who touched it outside of the charging Patriot keeper and finished into an open net, drawing some frigid cheers and muffled glove claps from the Warrior faithful, capping the most thrilling part of an old-school tournament battle.
“Credit to Mhamed, he couldn’t have played it anymore perfectly,” said Angelo. “Of course, credit to Alex too, that’s something he’s consistently done, that run from the deep central location. He played phenomenally today; must have ran about seven or eight miles and committed to putting the team on his back.”
Revere called timeout with 19 minutes to go, setting up an attack that looked dangerous all night but couldn’t break through against Mercer.
From there, every Warrior battled, as they had from kickoff. Mercer came up with clutch saves, the back line of juniors Aden Stevenson, Aidan Bligh, Nik Dhingra and Danny Kidder along with substitute, senior Zach Goc held it down; the midfielders including Keefe, De Morais, Boukataya and junior Isaac Melo scratched and clawed for each 50/50 ball and striker, junior captain Jack Millward hounded the back line.
All the while, sophomore Guy Revah put on a master class at central defensive midfield, much to the delight of Angelo and starting CDM, senior captain Charles Gagne, who was injured in the first half and unable to return.
“Guy Revah has been the most utility player for us this year,” said Angelo, a word only reserved for the most versatile of Warriors. “Naturally, he’s a right winger who likes to bomb forward and cross balls in. This year, for a variety of reasons, we’ve had to play him as an attacking midfielder, a box-to-box midfielder, a defensive midfielder. We put him anywhere we need and today we dropped him to CDM when Gagne went down and coach (Cam) Messina said it perfectly, ‘I don’t think he even took a wrong step in that second half.’
“He played perfectly and kept it glued together. Man of the match. He was absolutely spectacular for us today.”
Multiple players from both teams hit the turf in this one as low 40-degree weather combined with winds of over 20 miles per hour to create an unpredictable and unforgiving pitch. Of course, as any tournament game, it was also a physical and fervent matchup with everything on the line.
Gagne’s injury took the wind out of Wakefield’s sails but the defense stepped up, especially Bligh and Stevenson in back. Wakefield nearly went up on a free kick by Jack Millward but his laser beam from outside the 18 on an off-angle was tipped up over the goal post at the last second.
And so, after a chilly halftime in which the visiting Patriots sought shelter while the Warriors chose to stay in the elements, both teams started it up again.
Mercer’s best save came early in the second, diving to get a fingertip on a low bullet from in close. A rebound shot hit the cross bar and went straight down, somehow staying out of the goal and keeping the game scoreless.
While De Morais’ tally was almost unbelievable as the concept of overtime felt more like a given than a possibility, it was really the result of Wakefield building up to more chances and possessing the ball better as the second half wore on.
“Revere, tip your cap to them, they really frustrated us today,” said Angelo. “We felt like we were prepared for them and then they threw some different things at us. Luckily, our boys made some adjustments. We forced them to revert back to what we saw on film and that’s why I think in the second half, you saw us take over a little more.”
It was an identical 1-0 outcome that Wakefield saw last year in their quarterfinal victory over Agawam. In their next matchup against Hopkinton in the Final Four, the game went to overtime and then penalty kicks, which Wakefield won in eight grueling rounds.
And so, Angelo knows that the marathon is far from over. With multiple Warriors limping their way to the stands to celebrate after their win over Revere, the coach was happy to know that they would likely have a week to get ready for the next one.
“It’s welcomed,” said the coach, ready to take at least a couple hours to rest and build back some of those years the tournament tries to take from every coach. “All of these nagging injuries — let’s stretch, recover get off our feet a little bit. As that game builds up we’ll ramp up and get our stamina back. We’re kind of banged up so I told them, hoping it was true, ‘we’ll have about a week break so empty the gas tank today. Play through those aches and pains because it will be worth it.’”
Playing in the Final Four is certainly worth the hard work. Wakefield will play No. 4 Hingham on Tuesday night, 7 p.m. at Walpole High. Hingham beat No. 5 Minnechaug 2-0 in the quarterfinals last night.
Both semifinals will be played in Walpole next week as Mansfield and Oliver Ames will play there on Monday night. Wakefield is the only one of the four that is not from the south. Naturally, questions about what is supposed to be a neutral location will arise. All Wakefield can do is play the cards they were dealt. A long bus ride only means more rest. After one-goal victories in each of their first three tournament games, the Warriors will take the extra recovery time.
Another thriller awaits.
