Less than 24 hours after suffering their first defeat of the season to undefeated Stoneham the Blue Machine warmed up on their home field under the watchful eyes of coaches Phil and Gus to take on the undefeated Wilmington boys.
Coaches Gus and Phil for the first time went to a 3-2-2 formation beefing up the defense to neutralize a formidable Wilmington attack. The BMachine came out firing on all cylinders with improved passing and an exciting display of attacking soccer. Five minutes into the game Elliot Rippe beat two defenders and sent a blistering shot that went over the upright of the Wilmington goal. Wilmington showed why they are undefeated, counter attacking and testing the BMachine defense of Henry Salazar, Noah Adamson, Zach Logonov, and Issac Saron on numerous occasions. Ten minutes into the game Wilmington had their first chance at a goal only to be thwarted for the first of many times by central defender Noah “The Road Block” Adamson who deflected a shot giving the opposition a corner. The corner however almost gave the BMachine a golden opportunity when Jamie Keegan won the ball on the BMachine 18 yard line and sent a long through ball to Elliot that was headed away by the lone Wilmington defender.
Jamie Keegan wins the ball.
Fifteen minutes into the first half and the pace was fast and furious. RJ Guardia made a superb pass to Elliot and his cross was saved by the Wilmington goalie. Shortly after Jesse Aronson sent another cross into the box to no avail. Wilmington countered with a blistering long range shot leading to a fantastic save by the BMachine’s goalie Marcelo Brociner. Marcelo immediately got the ball down field to Ethan Sweeting who beat a few defenders and made a spectacular touch pass to Jesse Griffin who’s shot was just wide of the goal. Wilmington immediately countered and were awarded a direct free kick 24 yards from the BMachine goal. It was a hard shot that led to another outstanding save from Marcelo. Two minutes from the half a bad BMachine clearance led to Wilmington shot which was again saved by Marcelo who was determined to deny Wilmington.
The ref blew the whistle for the half and the Blue Machine had just played a scintillating 30 minutes of outstanding soccer.
BMachine defends against a Wilmington corner.
After such an action packed first half it was no surprise that the second half was played at a slower pace. Wilmington controlled the pace of the second half but the BMachine shut them out with stellar defense from Henry, Noah, Isaac and Daniel Portilo. Daniel came in at left back to replace the injured Zach and the converted forward was able to build the BMachine attack from the back with some nice passes to the midfield players Iladro and Jesse A. Somerville’s best opportunity at a goal in the second half came when Jamie passed to RJ who sent a cross in to Elliot who’s shot screamed just over the upright. Throughout the game midfielder Jonathan “Flash” Sands played a stellar defensive game challenging the Wilmington midfield and forwards beating them to the loose ball and establishing the counter attack.
Thanks to Maure Aronson for this recap.
