Published in the Boston Globe and Boston.com on October 5, 2012
The Weymouth Wildcats are headed back to the boys’ state soccer tournament.
Their 2-0 win over Walpole Thursday sealed the opportunity for the 9-0-3 host team.
“It takes a little bit of pressure off, but we certainly have a long way to go, though,” coach Bill McEachern said.
With eight games still to play, Weymouth won’t back down as winning the conference title is the way to highest seed in the state tournament. Last year, they it lost to Wellesley in the first round.
“We have goals of hopefully competition for the league title and then hopefully getting the best seed in the tournament,” McEachern he said.
Thursday’s win was powered by senior forward Mike Lynch’s goal in the 12th minute.
McEachern said Lynch had been a little banged up, so he was trying to hold him back by not starting him. But in the 10th minute, McEachern put his leading goal scorer (12 goals) into the game along with a new forward push.
“We went from a 3-5-2 to 4-3-3 to put a little pressure on them and Mike was able to break through on the throw in,” McEachern he said.
A late penalty kick taken by senior Jack Lynch (two PK goals in two opportunities) gave the Wildcats a cushion, extra padding, which held up went untouched by Walpole despite Walpole keeping the game competitive.
“They are athletic, disciplined, always a fit team” McEachern said. “They were creating chances and defending well, so it was a back- and-forth game . . . Walpole has a couple of big players up front and they play direct to them.”
McEachern said Walpole crossed the ball really well, today, but his junior goalie goalkeeper Lucas Renzende-Verge was on top of play, punching and blocking crosses from the top of the box.
“He did a tremendous job controlling the box and coming out when he needed to,” McEachern said of his goalkeeper, who recorded his sixth shutout of the season.