Coach Eric Greene and the team came into the year with one goal, to bring home a banner. Boys Soccer has done nothing at Norton High ever since joining the Tri Valley League. This team wanted to be remembered as the best to come out of the school. The season was impressive, but the Lancers came just short of their goal.
The Boy's championship hopeful season got off to a fairly rocky start. They started off 2-0-2, tying to Medfield and Ashland, who finished at the bottom of the league the previous year. These two ties acted as fuel for captain Wayne Belcher and the rest of the squad. They then won their next 5 games, including against undefeated Holliston and Medway, to finish the first half of the season without a loss. At this point, The Lancers were at the top of the league and had confidence running through them. The team then fell off a bit in the second half of the year. They went 5-2-2, including a loss away against Holliston, which pretty much put the nail in the coffin on their Tri Valley League Championship bid. Even though Norton fell 3 points short of Holliston for the title, they still posted the school's best ever regular season record (12-2-4), and their shot for a playoff championship was not out of the question.
Going into the state tournament the boys were a #6 seed and were scheduled to play #11 Rockland at home. From the start whistle, it was clear that Norton was the superior side. The Lancers handled them easily in a 4-0 win. In a game which 4 different players scored, Evan Winfield recorded his first goal of the year to guarantee the victory. Looking forward to the next round, Norton was scheduled to play top-of-the-league rival Holliston on the Panther's home turf. The boys held their own for the entire first half, and even had many more scoring chances than Holliston at a 0-0 halftime. In the opening minutes of the second half, Holliston's star striker put away a break away goal, and the Lancers could never recover. Their season ended with a 1-0 loss on that turf.
Even though the team did not accomplish what they were looking for, several parts about the season were success stories. Coach Greene won Tri Valley League coach of the year for leading the team to its best ever regular season record. Also, The Lancers had multiple all-stars including Jon Lach (Sun Chronicle), Matt Erickson (TVL/Sun Chronicle/Taunton Gazette), Wayne Belcher (TVL/Sun Chronicle/Taunton Gazette/Boston Globe), Joe Maia (TVL/Sun Chronicle/Taunton Gazette/Boston Globe) and Matt Bukowski (TVL/Sun Chronicle/Taunton Gazette/Boston Globe/E. Mass/ All-State). Two of team's top scorers, Matt Bukowski and Jon Lach, are underclassmen and will captain next year's squad. They will look to repeat and add to this past year's success!
No comments:
Post a Comment