By MARC GAGNE
WAKEFIELD — After an energizing victory in Arlington to open its season on Sept. 3, the Wakefield High School boys’ soccer team was ready for its home opener on Thursday against one of only four teams that beat last year’s program: Woburn.
As the game got going, Woburn had the first real threat to score, but shots were blocked by defenders Aden Stevenson and Aidan Bligh. A handball was called on Wakefield after one of these shots was fired, which resulted in a free kick for Woburn just a few feet outside of the 18-yard box. Goalie Mouad Khaja was prepared to make a save, but his skills were not needed, as the ball missed the net to the left.
Woburn had another good chance when the ball was kicked into the Wakefield box, but Nik Dhingra was able to force the Wakefield attacker to hit the ball out of bounds.
A chance for Wakefield came when Alex de Morais made a cross to Jack Millward inside the box, but Millward’s shot went off the crossbar.
Fifteen minutes into the game, the Warriors were able to score their first goal, when midfielder Matt Keefe made a beautiful through-ball pass to Millward, who juked around a defender and easily put the ball into the back of the net.
JACK MILLWARD scored two more goals in Wakefield’s 3-0 win over Woburn on Thursday. The junior striker scored six goals in Wakefield’s first two games of the season. (Dan Pawlowski File Photo)
Wakefield continued to attack on offense. Guy Revah, Millward and de Morais worked nicely together to continue pressuring the Woburn defense. The Warriors soon scored their second goal when de Morais made a perfect pass to Millward, who dribbled around the goalie and a defender and was able to take his time to shoot in the bottom right corner with 13 minutes left in the first half.
Just two minutes later, Wakefield went up three goals, when Millward received a pass in the box and tried to get it to Dhingra. Millward’s pass was intercepted by a Woburn defender, who tried to kick the ball out of bounds, but instead buried it in the back of the net for an own goal.
The first half ended with shots from several Wakefield players and multiple Woburn crosses intercepted by Wakefield’s goalie, Khaja.
The second half was not filled with nearly as much action. Wakefield was able to prevent Woburn from scoring any goals and did not score any more goals themselves. Early in the second half, Khaja made a clutch diving save to maintain Wakefield’s significant 3-0 lead and shutout.
Following this were shots on net from Mhamed Boukataya and Millward and multiple Woburn corners defended solidly by Wakefield.
Woburn had a chance to score at one point when Khaja came out to defend an attacker. The Woburn player tried to pass to his open teammate, but Khaja was able to deflect the ball before it reached him. After Khaja deflected the pass, the ball was dribbling near the Wakefield net, but Stevenson rushed in to clear it away from any Woburn attackers.
Captain Jack Millward who has six goals so far in only two games stated, “I think we’ve had a great start to the season, going 2-0. We can’t complain about that. We still have to fix some things as a team moving forward, but winning big games early in the year without playing our best soccer shows just how good we are, I believe. As the season is moving forward, I think we just have to keep stepping up to the big games and winning. The more adversity we face throughout the season, the more it will help us come postseason time. And that’s what matters.”
The Warriors are looking to live up to high expectations after a very successful 2023 season, and they are already off to a great start.
The team hit the road on Monday and came away with a hard-earned 1-1 tie against Belmont. Boukataya scored Wakefield’s goal in the first half after a perfect ball from right back Danny Kidder.
Wakefield (2-0-1) will try to keep it going today, 4:15 p.m. at the Galvin’s Walton Field against rival Melrose (0-3).
