How sweet it is: Gardner boys soccer trounces Minuteman to advance to round of 16
GARDNER – Sweet Sixteen. Once more, the Gardner High boys’ soccer team has reached that coveted bracket in the Division 4 state tournament.
Blasting in goal after goal Monday night at Watkins field, the fifth-seeded Wildcats easily jumped from the opening round of 32 teams with a dominant 10-1 win over the 28th seed visiting Minuteman Regional Revolution.
Improving to 13-3-2, the Wildcats, who advanced to the D4 state semifinals a year ago, will be at home again on Wednesday at 7 pm. when they face Northeast Metro Tech.
“We played our best first half of the season in this one, and now we’re on to the sweet sixteen,” said Gardner coach Dan Forte, delighted with the victory. “We spread the scoring around and that happens when we’re unselfish and pass the ball and look for the open guy. That’s when we are the most dangerous, when we open things up. Pretty much everyone can score goals for us and we were hungry for a lot of goals.”
In the high scoring match, seniors Ricky Ruiz and Jackson Langlois, along with sophomore Cam Gamache each scored two goals as the Wildcats built a convincing 7-0 lead by halftime, allowing the starters to rest and bundle up in jackets in the chilly night air, while sitting on the bench for most of the minutes after intermission.
“It feels great to move on. We played hard and did our thing on the field, scoring a lot of goals especially in the first half,” said the talented and speedy Ruiz, who added three assists.
Asked if he thought the Wildcats could keep winning in the tournament, Ruiz said, “I think 100 percent we can keep going. This team is very good.”
Sophomore Victor Tovar opened the Gardner scofring in the fourth minute, collected a low cross into the box from Ruiz and burying the goal into the left side of the net past Minuteman senior goalie and team captain Jake Johnston who made several terrific saves, diving and leaping in the crease and trying best as he could to keep his team in it.
To be sure without Johnston’s heroics, the Wildcats would have zoomed up further in double figures.
Six minutes after Tovar’s opening salvo, Ruiz made it 2-0 off an assist from junior Fabio Carvalho, a nifty one-touch goal after beating Johnston in a foot race back to the goal after a scramble. Ruiz fired his shot from 12 feet out, the ball skipping into the net.
Gamache, from six feet out, scored his first of two in the 19th minute on a perfect give and go pass play with Langlois near the center of the goal. Langlois, five minutes later, off a pass from Ruiz, timed his scoring shot perfectly off a bounce and the ball jumped over the outstretched arms of Johnston.
Two more goals, both unassisted, from Ruiz and Gamache, on an alert rebound shot in close, made it 6-0, and Langlois notched his second with only a minute left in the first half.
Only an eighth-grader, the Wildcats’ Gabriel Carvalho, made it 8-0 in the 12th minute of the second half.
Then, in the 14th minute of the second half, Minuteman scored its only goal when sophomore Roman Treadwell broke downfield alone and booted home a goal past Gardner keeper Wyatt Tom, a junior who otherwise was perfect in between the pipes.
Late in the game, the Wildcats still had time for two more goals, one from senior Andrew Lucier, who alertly gathered a nice cross pass from senior Jamesky Tervine and slammed the ball into the net. Then in the 73rd minute, senior Mena Aziz, off a pass from Carvalho, scored his first varsity goal.
“I really didn’t expect to get my first goal,” said Aziz. “I just saw the ball and there was a space for me to run. I knew if I had that space, I could get to the ball and shoot.”
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Gardner High boys soccer trounces Minuteman to advance to round of 16
