SWAMPSCOTT — Despite a strong second half rally, the Swampscott boys soccer team didn’t have quite enough to get over the hump against Medford, falling 2-1 to the Mustangs at Blocksidge Field on Thursday afternoon. The Big Blue were playing from behind for the majority of the game and had a tough time getting anything going offensively, especially in the first half.
“All in all, we had the effort today and did some good things,” said Swampscott coach Mike Amaral. “We lost to these guys 5-1 in our first meeting this year, so this was markedly better than that game.”
The first half of the game was dominated by Medford, who moved the ball all over the field and continually got quality runs at the net. After a couple of near misses and one shot off the post, the Mustangs finally broke through with just over 24 minutes left in the first half. The Mustangs took control of the ball in the midfield and moved into the offensive zone, with Will Mucci-Riley taking the ball up the right sideline. He sent a ball into the box that was supposed to be a cross to a teammate, but the ball ended up bending right into the net to put Medford up by a goal.
“We had a bit of a slip-up in the back end there that led to that goal,” Amaral said. “At halftime we talked about some of the weaknesses we had in our defense and we were able to correct those when we came out in the second half.”
Things really changed up in the second half for the Big Blue. Swampscott got several early scoring chances, including a corner kick that nearly resulted in a goal just over five minutes into the half. Then, after about 10 more minutes, Swampscott got the big play it was looking for.
The Big Blue cleared a ball out of their own zone, setting up senior captain Dan Johnson to make a run at the net from the right side. As he took the ball up the field, he sent a cross into the middle for freshman Vincent Palmer, who kicked a perfect one-timer into the net to tie the score.
“It was a great run by Dan to get things going, beating two defenders,” Amaral said. “Then it was a great cross and Vincent made a very opportunistic play. It came together really well.”
In a perfect world, the Big Blue would’ve ridden that momentum for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, that momentum was stopped about 10 minutes later when Medford’s Kendy Prince was taken down in the box to give the Mustangs a penalty kick. Joao Russo-Ferreira was chosen to take the PK, and he was able to bury it for the eventual game-winning goal.
Swampscott had a few more sporadic scoring chances throughout the rest of the second half, but nothing came to fruition.
Now at 3-12, the Big Blue are simply looking to build up some momentum as they come down the home stretch of the regular season.
“We just want to make sure that we improve in every game we play going forward, and things will take care of themselves,” said Amaral.
Swampscott plays North Andover at home on Saturday.
