A key league win to keep playoff hopes alive
Published October 18, 2019
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—It’s been a season of ups and downs for the Melrose Red Raider soccer team who’ve battled a host of injuries that has kept their lineup this season very competitive but inconsistent. Melrose remains in a playoff hunt with 11 points needed out of 18 in order to return to the familiar ground of the MIAA North playoffs.
The Red Raiders have won the league twice in the last three years and is currently second in the league behind Watertown, which increases their chances of a postseason. And they made this goal even easier by shutting out rival Stoneham on Monday, Oct. 14.
ROB WIESEN (front) and Tarekegn O’Neill were among those who scored in Melrose’s 4-0 shutout over Stoneham. (Jane Wiesen photo)
At the net, goalie Cam McDonough secured the shutout. “Cam did a great job for us and overall it was a total team win,” said coach Dean Serino.
The coach also gave credit where it was due to the Spartans. “Stoneham is a solid team and I don’t think the score reflected how they hung in. But it was nice to see our kids come up big when they needed to.”
Melrose played a few tense opening minutes until Melrose’s Furio Forconi struck first to make it 1-0 (a Columbus Day goal, fans noted.) The score by Forconi helped set the tone for the game.
“I think Furio’s first goal took some of that pressure off,” notes Serino. “It helped build confidence and in turn aided our effort to limit us giving up cheap goals. I think today’s win was an example of this team really starting to come together.”
Melrose ran away with the game in the goals that followed, including a shot by Jacobus Overgaag which made it 2-0. In the second half captains Tarekegn O’Neill and Robbie Wiesen made it 4-0 final. Defensively, the strong back play of Jack O’Hara, Liam O’Hara and Tommy Bergin made the difference. “They came up big when we needed them to,” notes Serino.
With five games left on the regular-season schedule, Melrose knows that they are entering a critical stretch. They will reface their Freedom League opponents Watertown, Wakefield, Burlington and Wilmington in the coming days. So there will be no nights off.
Says Serino, “We’ve fallen to some one-goal losses and are looking to change that. Because this is a team who when playing their best can compete with anyone. We have a lot of factors in play, an inconsistent lineup and a host of injuries. We make no excuses, though. This is a good team that battles adversity and that could be the greatest lesson the boys from this season. Rising to the occasion, playing through adversity. I’m proud of that.”
