PITTSFIELD – The Pittsfield boys’ soccer team stepped confidently into Tuesday’s Division IV first-round playoff game against No. 10 Newmarket. The seventh-seeded Panthers had already beaten the Mules twice this year, and they liked their chances going for win number three.
“We practiced well last night and got ready,” Pittsfield senior Matt St. George said, “and we were comfortable warming up and getting going.”
The Panthers got going in a hurry, scoring in the 12th minute and building a three-goal lead after 20 minutes. They got a little too comfortable in the second half and a desperate Newmarket team took the game to Pittsfield, but the Panthers (12-5) had more than enough answers to earn a 4-1 win and a trip to the D-IV quarterfinals.
“In the second half I thought we played conservative, almost not to make a mistake, and they were aggressive and they controlled play and created multiple opportunities,” Pittsfield Coach Derek Hamilton said. “But I thought (Pittsfield keeper) Gavin (Knight) was excellent in the second half. He made some great decisions and good saves and really never allowed them to carry momentum at any point.
“At times they were controlling play and it felt like momentum was continually going their way, but without the goal to show for it until late, I don’t think that momentum ever really shifted.”
Pittsfield grabbed the early momentum against the Mules (8-9) when St. George blasted a ball through Newmarket keeper Craig Hounam in the 12th minute. The play started with a long throw from Garrett Guerrero-Hadley into the box and then Guerrero-Hadley regaining possession when the ball came back to him near the sideline.
“A guy was coming at me, and I knew he was going to go for it, so I just faked it and kicked it across and let my teammates do the work,” Guerrero-Hadley said.
The hard cross found the feet of St. George (“Of course I was aiming for him,” Guerrero-Hadley said with a smile), and he knew just what to do with it.
“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and I hit it,” St. George said. “A hard shot to save is a hard shot on frame, and that’s always in my mind, so I just hit it on frame and it happened to slip though the keeper’s hands.”
Less than two minutes later, Hounam had no chance of getting a hand on a shot from Pittsfield’s Casey Clark. The senior showed a great combination of strength and speed as he blazed down the left side shrugging off would-be defenders. And when he got into the box, Clark calmly slotted the ball inside the far post and into the side netting to give Pittsfield a 2-0 lead.
That advantage ballooned to 3-0 in the 20th minute on a Newmarket own goal. Guerrero-Hadley played a through ball into the box, and with Pittsfield’s Cam Darrah bearing down on it, Newmarket’s Allen Phoubaykham was forced into a hasty clearance. It looked like Phoubaykham wanted to clear it over or around his team’s goal, but instead he hammered into the back of the net.
There were no such mistakes from the Pittsfield defense. St. George was gobbling up 50/50 balls in the middle of the pitch, Jesse MacGlashling and Jah Gordon were keeping Newfound’s strikers in check and sweeper Colby Wolfe was winning every ball that had even a hint of danger.
“Colby was phenomenal in the first half,” Hamilton said. “I thought he positioned himself well and really anticipated the next play.”
The Panthers continued to do a great job marking their men in the second half, the only difference was they seemed to being doing it in their own end most of the time.
“They came out harder than us in the second half and I don’t think we were expecting it,” St. George said.
The Mules had six shots in the first seven minutes of the second half, including one from Caden Foster that banged off the crossbar and a header from Noah Pardy that went straight at Knight (four saves) for an easy save. There was no panic from the Panthers, which was a good sign, but they also couldn’t counter the pressure and eventually it led to a goal.
Newmarket’s Simon Cote hammered a free kick from 40 yards out that Fred Holmes smartly flicked into the goal to make it 3-1 in the 58th minute.
“I went to get it but I didn’t get a head on it,” said St. George, who was marking Holmes at the time. “I was having a hard time with (Holmes) then, but he played very well, he’s a great player.”
The goal jump-started Pittsfield’s aggression and the Panthers flipped the field, suddenly putting pressure on Newmarket for the first time in the second half. Eventually Pittsfield found the fourth goal when a hustling Guerrero-Hadley blocked a clear attempt from Hounam. With the Newmarket keeper out of his goal, Guerrero-Hadley chased down the loose ball and fed it to Darrah, who finished past Phoubaykham standing on the line in a last-ditch effort.
“I just tried to get the ball to my teammate calling for it, and he got the job done,” Guerrero-Hadley said.
The Panthers will travel to No. 2 Lisbon (14-2) on Friday for a 3 p.m. quarterfinal match. The two teams did not meet during the regular season, so it will be a match of unknowns … mostly.
“I know they’re 14-2, so they’re doing something right up north,” Hamilton said. “I know they’ve got a good goal scorer in Josh Woods and Les (Poore) is a great coach and has been with them a long time (30 years), so I’m sure they will be well-prepared for Friday.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341, tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)