This past Friday the boys’ varsity soccer team tied the Woodside Wildcats on senior night to end league play with a record of 4-3-3.
The Bears were quick to attack early creating several chances early. After weaving through traffic, senior attacker Jacob Goldberg created a chance for senior defender Ntsika Mtwa who nearly got the Bears on the board but pushed a low shot just wide of the net.
Woodside also created several chances early but were not able to trouble junior goalkeeper Chase Trigg.
Goldberg continued to create chances for M-A, with 27 minutes left in the first half he was able to get past a Woodside defender and force a poor pass back to the goalie which ended up with the ball in the Woodside net, but Goldberg was unfortunately called for a push on the Wildcat defender. “The foul was shoulder-to-shoulder and should not have been called,” Goldberg later stated.
In the following minutes Goldberg gave himself several more opportunities but each time was unable to find the back of the net.
After a period of mild attacking for the Wildcats, with nine minutes remaining in the half, the ball bounced against a Woodside defender’s arm in the penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty and junior midfielder Albrecht Tribukait coolly passed the ball past the goalkeeper putting M-A up 1-0.
Shortly before the half ended, Woodside created a golden opportunity to equalize when Trigg was caught out of position. The woodside player got a strong foot on the ball but Trigg was just able to recover and make the save.
The half ended shortly afterward with M-A up 1-0.
At the beginning of the second half, M-A nearly scored after a free kick from sophomore defender Noah De Haaf rattled off the crossbar leaving fans in shock.
In the second half, Woodside did a good job of keeping M-A outside of the penalty area, forcing several long-distance shots from M-A.
The Bears controlled possession for most of the second half but Woodside was able to create several opportunities including a cross across the box that forced another fantastic save from Trigg.
Junior midfielder Nathan Thurlow runs down pass
Despite the dominance in possession, a loose ball in the box led to a miraculous bicycle kick goal for the Wildcats with just 12 minutes left, leveling the score at 1-1.
M-A poured on the pressure late looking for the winner. A cross into the box found the head of junior attacker Alexis Escobar who put the ball just wide of the net.
With time running out M-A was given a free kick. The ball bounced around the box and found senior midfielder Dash Franklin got a foot to the ball but was too close to the keeper to get it past him.
The game ended shortly after with the final score being 1-1.
Goldberg reflected on the performance saying, “I feel like we outplayed them and deserved to win but sometimes you have to put your hands up and applaud the type of goal they scored.”
Franklin also added, “It definitely felt like a loss because we played well and controlled the game. It was just one mix up on a set piece and a crazy bicycle kick and that cost us.”
The Bears look forward to finding out their playoff division and seed on Thursday and will play their first playoff game on Saturday.
