By Kelly O’Meara and Sarah St. George
The 12th seed Walpole Rebels upset the 5th seed Diman Bengals 2-0 to advance them onto the Quarterfinals of the MIAA Division Two South Boys Soccer Tournament. Prior to the game, Coach Lee Delaney liked their odds.
“It’s a good matchup and I like our chances,” Coach Lee Delaney said. “Diman’s the 5 seed and we’re 12 so we’re just excited to get going. It’s been a long wait to play.”
After waiting a week and a half to play their first playoff game, the Rebels only get one day off now before their next game tonight against Oliver Ames. Last year, Oliver Ames ended the Rebel tournament run, so the Rebels are looking for a different result this year.
“Whoever we get, we’ve got to be ready for them,” junior Aidan Murray said. “Come Thursday—it’s win or go home.”
As for their victory over Diman Regional, the Rebels had possession of the ball for the majority of the game, which led to two clutch goals by Murray. The first goal was scored off of freshman Greg Maclean’s corner kick 25 minutes into the first half. The second goal was about 15 minutes into the second half after Murray dribbled through the middle and scored.
“We needed to win,” Aidan Murray said. “We had a couple tough results at the end of the season, and just to start off tourney strong was something we were looking to do.”
Although the Rebels held Diman scoreless, the game was very physical. Senior captain Kevin Sullivan was given a yellow card for taunting. Besides the card, over ten fouls were called on each team.
“I feel the boys played very respectful considering how physical the game was,” said Kevin’s mom, Marianne Sullivan. “They deserved the win.”