After a 5-0 stomping 0f Malden Catholic last Saturday, the boys soccer team lost to Needham on Tuesday, October 4, by a score of 4-3. This was the first loss of the season for the Rebels, who are currently ranked 18th in the state by the Boston Globe. Needham is certainly no pushover, as evident by their ranking of 19th _ right behind Walpole.
The game started out nicely for the Rebels, who jumped out to an early lead with two goals for senior forward Kyle Bradbury. A combination of hustle and superb passing helped Bradbury to put the pair of goals away easily. Needham bounced right back with an impressive header off a beautiful cross, reducing the lead to one. With some time left in the first half, senior Captain Tim Sullivan put away a third goal for the Rebels, adding one to their lead. However, Needham wasn’t finished yet and they scored again. Both teams went to their respective benches at half with the score at 3-2, with Walpole in the lead.
As the second half started, Needham was all business. They scored early off a free kick putting the score at three apiece. Then with roughly five minutes remaining, the Rockets were awarded a penalty kick on which they capitalized with another goal. With the goal on the PK, the Needham Rockets were able to beat the Rebels by a score of 4-3. “We played well, but it just wasn’t quite enough,” remarked senior goal scorer Conor Murtagh.
Many factors contributed to Walpole’s first loss of the season. For sure, the weather certainly played a major factor. The skies had been overcast all day, and just before game time, the skies opened up over Needham, making the artificial turf extremely slick. As most soccer players know, the ball tends to skip on fields glossed over with rain, speeding up gameplay and making it harder to control the ball for both field players and goalkeepers. This clearly made a difference to Walpole, who let up some goals off of rebounds that were simply impossible to stop in the rainy weather. “Rain always adds a degree of difficulty to my job,” said senior keeper Giorgio Sarkis, “you just try to work through it.” Certainly, the officiating did not favor Walpole in the least, especially the penalty kick that gave the victory to Needham, which was “extremely controversial” according to many Rebel fans who weathered the rain to support their team. In addition, an injury to Sullivan in the second half did not help matters. Sullivan injured his leg in a collision with the Needham goalkeeper. He is now on crutches and is likely out for a few days due to a high ankle sprain.
Despite these factors the Rebels did make some mistakes that need fixing. Needham scored goals off of rebounds, because of poor man to man defense. Also, the Needham restart goal was an uncontested header, which is unacceptable by Walpole standards. “We just have to look back at what happened and make sure we learn from our mistakes,” said Murtagh.
Despite the loss, the Rebels still currently boast a record of 8-1-2, which places them atop the BSL Herget division. “A loss is a loss, we all just have to learn from our mistakes we will continue to improve our game,” said junior Captain Nolan Murray. They look next to Natick, who currently hold a 3-7 record.
