For the first 40 minutes at Memorial Field on Tuesday afternoon, the Concord boys’ soccer game against Bedford mirrored the field it was played on: sloppy, uneven and a little bit grimy.
Despite a rejuvenated push in the second half, the Crimson Tide’s effort fell short after Bedford’s junior captain Gavin Diaz sliced a penalty kick into the back of the net four minutes into overtime, handing Concord a 1-0 defeat.
Now winless over its last three games, the Crimson Tide dropped to 5-2-1. But despite the outcome, head coach Scott Dunlop said he was proud of how his team flipped a switch after halftime.
“We just played together as a unit,” Dunlop said of his team’s second-half performance. “We actually moved together and supported each other because there was really no support in the first half. We were so disconnected throughout the first 40 minutes. They were just taking advantage of it.”
For a team that prides itself on defense as much as the Tide, halftime adjustments, especially giving Bedford less breathing room, became paramount to Concord’s revitalized effort.
Throughout the first 10 minutes of the game, Bedford (4-4) stayed on the offensive, beginning in the fourth minute when sophomore Eli Kaplo pushed a shot just to the side of the net. Any time Concord gained possession across the midfield line, the Bulldogs quickly repelled the attack.
But after escaping through the first 40 minutes locked in a scoreless tie, Concord came out of the break with a newfound crispness and cohesion. The Crimson Tide fired 10 shots on net and had Bedford scrambling defensively, the best chance coming from Concord senior captain Benjamin Masur, who was denied the go-ahead goal by Bulldog goalkeeper Derek Wilensky with under five minutes remaining in regulation.
Still scoreless into overtime, the game reverted to some more back-and-forth play until the referees awarded Diaz a penalty kick – despite questionable circumstances – and his goal handed the Tide another defeat after a 5-0 start.
Before the season, Dunlop emphasized that scoring would need to be an area of focus because contrary to previous years, his team lacked a go-to scoring option. Looking ahead, he views the adjustments they need to make quite simply: “Focus on finishing.”
In Concord’s 1-1 draw against Goffstown last Friday, the Crimson Tide outshot its opponent 16-2; in Concord’s 2-1 overtime loss to Bishop Guertin on Saturday, Dunlop said he came away proud of his team’s performance. Now after three straight games without a win, Dunlop’s ready to look ahead to Friday’s matchup at Portsmouth, as his team tries to find more ways to put the ball in the back of the net.
“We’re going to play on turf, which we’ve been playing really well on this season, so we’re hoping that that’ll benefit us,” he said.
Embarking on the second half of its 16-game regular season schedule, Concord aims to rediscover the recipe that made it so successful early in the season: suffocating defense and opportunistic offense.