ABBY MYETTE beats a Burlington striker to the ball and clears it away during Wakefield’s 4-2 win over the Red Devils on Sept. 19. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High girls’ soccer team won their second game in a row on Thursday, 4-2 over Burlington at Walton Field, capping a strong week for the Warriors that began with a 4-0 shutout over Stoneham last Tuesday, Sept. 17.
An entertaining and evenly-matched first half ended 2-2 before the Warriors pulled away with the game-winner about 10 minutes into the second half. Their defense locked in to get the win while the 4th and final goal was buried just before the final whistle, bringing to an end a huge result for Wakefield against a Red Devils team that had been ahead of the Warriors in the standings.
Senior captain Aliza Margolis led the way in this one, scoring 3 goals for a hat trick. Freshman Teaghan Johnson scored the final goal and freshman Ella Ferrell added an assist.
The home team set the tone early in this one, winning multiple 50/50 balls and keeping Burlington away from the net. Senior captain/defender Megan Clark blocked a long shot early while midfielders like Margolis, senior captain Shea Suntken, senior Kayla Hurley, senior captain Rachel Caplin and junior Stella Carlino put the work in early to win the possession battle and set up chances.
That effort paid off with 23 minutes left in the 1st when Margolis settled a bouncing ball about 10 yards outside of the box and lofted a lefty shot from distance over Burlington’s unsuspecting keeper to open the scoring.
The goal forced Burlington to step up their game, which they did, finding the equalizer just two minutes later after a free kick caused a scrum in front of the Warrior net, forcing a timeout from head coach Nico Manganiello to settle his squad. Wakefield got back into rhythm, but Burlington capitalized on a perfect through ball with 14 minutes left to score a wide open chance and take a 2-1 lead.
The home team’s response came with 8:30 left on a similar type of goal as Ferrell timed a pass with a Margolis run that found Wakefield’s leading scoring open in space. The captain calmly finished for her second goal, tying it at 2-2. The Warriors were inches away from taking the lead on two more occasions before the half, first on a shot by Hurley that was deflected into the crossbar before Margolis burned a defender and sent a short cross in that Suntken nearly finished.
Although they couldn’t find the go-ahead goal, the confidence that they could was built for the second half and it didn’t take long for the Warriors to accomplish it as Margolis found her hat trick by pressuring the keeper on a pass back, recovering a misplay and finishing to make it 3-2 with 29:28 to play.
Wakefield forwards and midfielders did a nice job of pressuring for the next 15 minutes to give their back line a chance to breathe, but of course, it was only a matter of time before Burlington would press to try and tie the game. That came after a timeout with 15 minutes left but the Warriors’ back line was ready as
Clark, and centerbacks, senior captain Abby Myette and freshman Laurel Renzi were especially impressive clearing away chances and controlling play.
Manganiello called timeout at the start of stoppage time to give his defense a rest and once again, it was the attackers who sealed the deal as Johnson’s relentless work ethic paid off when she scored a pure-hustle goal after taking the ball from a defender and firing one past the diving keeper to make Wakefield’s second win of the season official.
The Warriors won their third in a row, 6-1 over Watertown on Monday, improving to 3-4 on the season. A full story will appear later this week.
They travel to Wilmington (3-3-1) for a huge Freedom Division game tonight at 6:15 p.m.
