Photos by Samuel Goldman
On Wednesday afternoon, the boys soccer team lost to the Aragon Dons 1-0 after a late, heartbreaking, goal.
After kickoff, the Bears started out by playing aggressive and pushing the pace. They passed the ball very well and played a smooth game, getting lots of opportunities but not being able to capitalize.
On defense, the Bears faced a major challenge against the quick pace of the Dons attackers. The Dons attempted to make strong crosses and through passes to catch the Bears off guard and set up their attack.
On their defensive gameplan, junior defender Timothy Rousseau said, “We were told just to stay back because they would boot it a bunch. We wanted to make sure no balls went over our heads.”
While the Dons had many strong attacks in the first half, defensive ball control and a couple of great saves by junior goalie Chase Trigg kept the game tied going into halftime.
In the second half the Bears came out with renewed passion, relentlessly looking for openings in the Dons defense.
On their offensive attack, senior defender Trevor Gawle said, “We just thought that we should drag in the players on the left side and play through the middle, turn, play out wide, and we’d have an open line, and then hopefully get shots on goal.”
Gawle and senior midfielder Jacob Goldberg did especially good jobs to execute the game plan, making great attempts at working down the sidelines and crossing the ball in to open strikers.
Whenever the Dons looked to score after taking over possession from the Bears, their attempts were quickly stymied by solid defensive play, and more key saves from Trigg.
After a bad pass, Trigg cleared the ball with 13 minutes to go, narrowly avoiding a back-breaking goal on a clear breakaway.
Trigg also made a sliding save while enduring a cleat to the face to secure the ball to keep the game tight.
As both teams became more frustrated because of the even score, tensions flared and both teams argued with each other as well as the referee.
On the nature of the game, junior winger Cameron Leung said, “We have a rivalry with this team, and whenever we play them we always tie or lose. A bunch of these players are really good, and when you have good players you have good competition.
Despite the Bears dominating much of the possession, with 15:32 to go in the game, the Dons buried one into the back of the net off of a throw-in and took a 1-0 lead.
As the clock winded down, the Bears grew desperate in search of a game-tying goal.
Leung sent in a couple of free kicks and corners, only to be headered and saved or narrowly missed, the final whistle blew as the M-A suffered a brutal loss.
The Bears return to the field this Friday at 4:30 to host the Carlmont Scots in another league showdown.
