by Erin Hogan
The Berlin Mountaineer boys soccer team took on Waterford on Tuesday, October 6, at home. The first half started with a Waterford shot on Shawn Willis, the senior goalkeeper for BCS. Willis let Waterford know early, with his awesome first save, that scoring wasn’t going to be easy. Then Berlin got the ball and went up field, and Justin Jewett took a shot. The Waterford goalie saved Jewett’s shot mirroring Willis’s save. These first two plays set the tone for the rest of the battle to win this game. There was much back and forth with no clear idea of who was going to win.
Both Waterford and Berlin were working hard and taking shots on goal. Waterford would pressure in the Mountaineers’ defensive area, and it would get frantic, but Willis would make the save to keep the score 0-0. Waterford was awarded a free kick outside the box. Willis deflected the shot out for a corner kick. Willis jumped to save the cross, punting it into the Waterford end so Berlin could take some shots. After Berlin had a go on the Waterford defense, the ball was sent back down to Berlin’s end, with Willis exhorting his teammates to “Give everything you have!”
Sakan Nucheanpha Sadowsky and Aaron Gundlack kept pushing the ball out of the Fordians’ scoring range. On the offensive side, John Willis, Tyler Pomokoy and Tucker Connelly were all fighting to score courtesy of Drew Webster’s perfect feeds. There was a shot fired at the Waterford goalie that was deflected and rolled painfully along the goal but was not quite finished by Berlin. The score still remained 0-0 with 13 minutes left in the first half. Waterford stormed back down the field to try and sneak a shot in past Willis. Although the shot was well placed by the Waterford player, it was no match for Shawn’s reach as he denied the shot from going into the upper corner. In response, Berlin went to the Waterford end and took a high shot which the Waterford goalie deflected out of bounds, giving Berlin a corner kick. Drew Webster made a valiant effort to score on the corner but couldn’t get the ball in. Shawn Willis made one last save right on the line before the first half ended with a 0-0 tie.
The Mountaineers headed back out onto the field ready to win. Played strong defense, Nucheanpha Sadowsky was letting very little get by, heading and clearing all balls that came near him. For the few that came into the box, Shawn jumped, dove and slid to keep them from going into the net behind him. This is when the game started getting rough. Both teams were desperate to score, and emotions were running high. Tucker Connelly got away and was trying to get up the field when he was knocked over by a Waterford player, resulting in a direct kick but no score. Drew Webster was fighting to score and was making great shots and passes but was unable to finish. The game once again went back and forth from the Berlin goal to the Waterford goal with both teams incapable of scoring. It wasn’t until one of the Waterford players made a beautiful shot to the far corner of the goal that it seemed the score would change, but Shawn Willis wouldn’t allow that shot to go in and made a phenomenal diving save to stop the shot that looked like it could have changed the game.
At this point, direct kicks were being taken all over the field, and players were falling left and right. Still, no one could score. Before the second half ended Waterford had picked up two yellow cards. The game became chaotic as the second half was ending and the score was still 0-0. Both teams fought to score, but with Aaron Gundlack, Sakan Sadowsky and Shawn Willis working the defense Waterford could not score. Drew Webster took one last try, from a feed by John Willis, on the Waterford goalie before time ran out but the shot was stopped. Berlin hustled off the field for a quick break before overtime.
Overtime is “golden goal,” meaning the first team to score automatically wins. This made it more crucial to score because once a shot was made there would be no chance for a rebuttal. After 10 more minutes of play and more amazing saves by Willis and hard work from the offence, the score was still 0-0. This meant double overtime. Ten more minutes were put on the clock, and the teams went out looking to end the game. Twenty seconds into the second overtime Waterford shot from outside the box at a weird angle, which Willis dove to save, but the ball deflected off him in a strange way and went in. Berlin lost an epic battle 1-0 to Waterford. The Berlin boys played their hearts out and did an amazing job in this game.