SWAMPSCOTT — The No.8 Swampscott boys soccer team moves on to Sweet 16 as it takes down No. 25 Greater Lowell Tech 3-0 at Blocksidge Field.
Despite the scoreline, the Big Blue had to dig deep in the first-half as the Gryphons came out fast.
Junior goalie Charlie Ulberg recorded 11 first half saves (14 in total) to keep Swampscott in the game. Head coach Adam Bailey praised the shot-stopper’s performance.
“He made some big saves. He really helped us out,” Bailey said. “I felt like defensively we were good but not as good as we could have been. We picked it up in the second half and supported him better.”
Halfway through the first half, Swampscott found the breakthrough. Milad Sassin played a pass down the line to Lucas Bereaud. Bereaud fired a shot that was initially saved but the ball spilled out and a racing Max Mandee beat the defender to the ball and poked it home to give Swampscott a 1-0 lead.
When asked about scoring first Bailey said “It was huge” and was proud of Mandee getting on the scoresheet.
“He’s been knocking on the door the last few games where he’s had opportunities,” Bailey said. “It was nice to see him finish one as a senior in the tournament.”
The teams went into halftime with the Swampscott leading by a goal.
In the second half, Bailey made some adjustments to secure the backline, but to also gain more control of the ball.
“Greater Lowell is a quality squad. They were giving us a hard time in the first half so we had to make some adjustments at halftime,” Bailey said. “The boys bought into the adjustments and executed in the second half.”
13 minutes into the second half, James Kimbro tracked down a long pass into the penalty box. The defender missed the ball and took down Kimbro in the box which led the ref to point to the spot for a penalty kick.
Max Arredondo stepped up to take the penalty and after a few deep breaths, Arredondo fired the ball into the net to double Swampscott’s advantage (2-0).
“Since we found out our seeding and started training for the tournament, we’ve been practicing PK’s every day,” Bailey said. “We got a list of guys that are super confident in taking them and he’s right at the top.”
When asked if Bailey had any doubts about Arredondo taking the penalty:
“No, not with him,” he said.
With 12 minutes left to play in the game, Jack Fredrickson hit a first-time pass to a sprinting Jack Raymond. Raymond got the ball under control and slotted the ball past the goalie to make it 3-0, the eventual final scoreline.
No. 8 Swampscott will host No. 9 Dover-Sherborn on Thursday with the game scheduled to kick-off at 7 p.m.
