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10/26/2014 12:00 AMFor the first time in Gerald Carlone’s four years as the head coach of the Westbrook boys’ soccer team, the Knights are on their way to the Class S State Tournament. The Knights moved to 6-7-2 with a 2-0 win over Hale-Ray on Oct. 20 to secure their position in the school’s first trip to the postseason in years.
“It’s been a long four years, but we put in a lot of work and this is the culmination of that with all these seniors staying with the program,” Carlone said. “All the boys were extremely excited. I was extremely excited. This is what you want. You want a chance to make it into the playoffs and we feel like we’re a battle-tested team.”
It was more than just a historic win in terms of qualifying for the state tournament; it was a great redemption victory for the Knights, who were bested by Hale-Ray by a 2-0 score on Oct. 9.
“We felt like that game against Hale-Ray, we played even with them, if not outplayed them,” Carlone said. “They finished 2-0 against us and we were upset about it. They had emotion and we have a lot of seniors that worked really hard to overcome the other guys’ energy. They really wanted it because we needed another positive result to get into states.”
The game went into the half knotted at 0 before PJ Costa found the back of the net on a set piece about 22 minutes into the second. The free kick was set up on a great individual effort by Alex Mejia as he worked into the offensive zone. The ball was worked up to Mejia, who took on two defenders and was taken down by a trailing defender right outside the area. Costa took the free kick immediately after the referee’s whistle and found the back of the net.
“I think he caught them a little bit off-guard taking it so quickly,” Carlone said. “Hale-Ray wasn’t completely set.”
Yusuf Coban put home Westbrook’s second goal of the game just six minutes later. The ball got kicked forward and Coban ended up being 1-on-1 with Hale-Ray’s keeper. The goalie made contact with the initial shot, but Coban was able to maintain his balance, get to the ball, and tap home the goal.
The second goal was great for Westbrook’s confidence as scoring has been a point of emphasis throughout the year for Carlone and his squad. They’ve been shutout in six games this season, including their previous game, a 3-0 loss to Morgan on Oct. 17.
“It wasn’t a great game by us, but we did what we needed to do to keep the pressure on them,” he said. “Scoring feels good. We talked about that a lot. In the past we struggled in that area and we’re finally putting it in the back of the net this year.”
The defense continued its strong play thanks to being a veteran group. Seamus Ashburner, Matthew Cyr, Erik Simon Vuoritie, and Chris Tragakes playing in front of keeper Ronnie Oldham kept the ball out of harm’s way and preserved the win. All five of these athletes are seniors.
“Ron made a couple of good saves, came out in some 1-on-1 situations, and didn’t give them many opportunities,” Carlone said. “They’re smart players and they made sure not to make any stupid mistakes. They have composure on the ball and they work well in space.”