Warriors dominate second half in 1-1 tie
WOBURN — When asked to describe Saturday’s season opener against Woburn, Coach Matt Angelo said that he felt it was a tale of two halves. The final score reflected that statement as the Warrior boys’ soccer team played the Tanners to a 1-1 draw at Woburn High School.
“It was a tale of two halves. Woburn was flying to the ball in the first half,” said Angelo. “They were first to the ball and were down our entire first half. They were possessing the ball and outworking us.”
A turnover near midfield resulted in the Tanners taking a 1-0 lead at about the 30 minute mark of the first half.
That was the lead at halftime. Wakefield made some minor adjustments and came out and was a much different team in the second half.
“Wakefield come out and we were dominating the second half. We had plenty of chances to score, but had some missed kicks. We put pressure on Woburn the whole time. In the first half, Woburn had plenty of chances and Tyler Strauss made some good saves for us. In the second half, the Woburn goalie made some good saves.”
The Warriors tied the game at about the 15 minute mark of the second half. Senior forward Neil Fitzgerald scored the goal.
“We’ll use this game as a learning experience,” said Angelo. “We play in a strong league and we need to be ready to play every minute of every game.
Wakefield’s next game is tomorrow night (6:30 p.m.) when it hosts Reading at Landrigan Field.
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Angelo, in his third year as head coach, believes that Wakefield will have a strong program this season. After all, Wakefield lost five seniors from last year’s team and has 15 players returning on a team that came up two points shy of a state tournament berth.
“We have 15 returning players that are making a big impact,” said Angelo. “We also have two sophomores on the roster and they’ve made an impact.
“The expectations are high and the first thing is we want to get the monkey off our back and get into the state tournament for the first time since 1999,” continued Angelo. “Talent-wise I thing we ave the right team to qualify. They have that mental toughness. We were one game away from qualifying last year so the hope is that we get that qualification this year. “
With a veteran team that knows the system, Angelo admits that it is easier for him from a coaching standpoint.
“It’s been a lot of fun. They’ve worked really hard in the preseason and they’re energetic,” said Angelo. “We took a big step last year and opened some eyes. The players have walked into the season really strong and we want to make the program stronger. The expectations are high and we want to raise the standard.”
Wakefield is led by senior tri-captains Neil Fitzgerald, Tyler Strauss, and Ian Ritchie. Fitzgerald returns at forward, Strauss is the returning goalie, and Ritchie is a midfielder.
There are 10 seniors on the roster total.
The rest of the senior defenders include Billy Sheerin, Joe Stackhouse, Adam Hammond, and Joe Hurton.
The rest of the seniors are midfielders and they are MJ Urbano, Cam Yasi, and Kyle Geaney.
There are six juniors on the roster.
The two defenders are Andrew Auld and Andrew Dececca and both are returning backs, while the junior midfielders back are Mark Melanson, Jon Ingalls, and Mo Jenga.
Wakefield is going to have a backup goalie this season. Junior Zack Dascoli is the backup for Strauss.
The Warriors also have two sophomores that have made varsity and both are midfielders. They are Alejandro Winsor and Braeden Langlois.
Helping Angelo with the varsity coaching duties will be Assistant Coach Marc LeBlanc and Assistant and Goalkeeper Coach Ryan DiBenedetto. Jim Fitzgerald and Ryan Devaney are the assistant/JV coaches.
