NEW BEDFORD- No. 28 Winchester got here into the Whaling Metropolis and upset No. 5 New Bedford 2-1 within the First Spherical of the MIAA Division 1 Boys Soccer match on Thursday night.
The Purple and Black (11-3-4) got here into this recreation after their 1-0 win towards no. 37 Andover on Monday within the Preliminary Spherical. New Bedford (14-5-0) got here into this recreation attempting to get their first match victory for the reason that 2019 South Sectional match.
Regardless of the Purple and Black getting into the sport with a a lot decrease seed than the Whalers, Winchester Head Coach Vinnie Musto stated his staff didn’t enter with an underdog mentality.
“We didn’t go into this match pondering that if we received, it was going to be a giant upset,” Musto stated. “We have been assured from minute one, we thought we have been the higher staff, and we got here out as shortly as we might.”
The Purple and Black scored their two targets inside two minutes of one another within the first half. The primary got here Ean Errico fired a shot that deflected off a Whaler defender and went to junior captain Cole Queenan, who fired it into the web within the 18th minute.
Simply a few minutes later, Seif Ebeid bought by way of two Whaler defenders and handed to Tom Duval, who put it in for the purpose.
“We needed to be the primary to attain, and we have been aggressive sufficient to get two fast ones,” Musto stated. “Then we locked it down.”
New Bedford had quite a few possibilities to attain within the first half, together with six nook kicks within the half, with Winchester netminder William Brown tipping it a few occasions, which made the Whalers take one other nook. One shot from Diego Ribeiro, taken from the left aspect of the web, went put up to put up with out crossing the web into the purpose.
Within the second half, New Bedford had many of the offensive possession, however was solely capable of get one shot into the purpose, which was Joao Pedro Dos Santos, who scored off the eighth nook for the Whalers within the forty sixth minute, with Flavio Martins taking that nook for the help.
There have been extra possibilities that the Whalers have been unable to capitalize on, like two free kicks by Martins within the offensive zone. On the second free kick, Martins simply hit the crossbar with no different participant on both staff touching it. The Purple and Black held their very own within the last minutes of the sport and pulled off this upset.
In whole, the Whalers had 10 corners within the recreation, whereas the Purple and Black simply had three corners to their identify. Brown had 4 saves in web for Winchester, and sophomore Max Hoaglund-Rodrigues additionally had 4 saves for the Whalers.
Winchester will likely be heading all the way down to Brookline to tackle the No. 21 Brookline Warriors within the Spherical of 16, who themselves upset No. 12 St. John’s (Shrewsbury) on Tuesday. This can be a rematch from the 2023 second spherical, which Winchester received 3-0.
