WILMINGTON, MA — Wilmington Youth Soccer’s GU12-1 team was crowned Middlesex League Champions this past week end after wins against Woburn in the semi-finals on Saturday and Chelmsford in the finals on Sunday.
The Wildcats entered the league championship tournament, known as Commissioner’s Cup, as the #3 seed and was matched up against #2 Woburn who had previously beat Wilmington twice by a combined score of 6-1. Woburn took an early lead and was looking for another win, but the Wildcats battled hard and tied the game shortly before the half when Maura Fiorenza buried her shot off a crossing pass from Alyssa Granara.
The game was evenly matched, but Woburn struck again midway through the second half to take a 2-1 lead. The Wildcats would not give up though with Emily Watson, Rita Roche and Kali Almeida all pitching in to pressure the Woburn defense. With only three minutes remaining, the Wildcats tied the game on a Granara free kick from about 25 yards. Overtime would be needed to determine a winner.
Overtime started with Woburn pressing the attack but the defense, anchored by Audrey Curdo, Kaitlyn Maguire, Kaitlyn Doherty and Sofia Barletta and backstopped by Maura Fiorenza in net preserved the tie. Wilmington countered and the Wildcats scored again to take the lead. A goal in overtime does not end the game, and play continued. In a tense battle, Woburn threw everything they had at Wilmington, but the Wildcats held strong. Towards the end of the overtime period, the Wildcats cleared the ball to a waiting Granara who raced up the middle ahead of the Woburn defense who had been pressing the attack. She scored her third goal of the day to seal the win and complete her hat trick.
The Saturday win set up a battle with previously unbeaten and #1 seeded Chelmsford who finished the regular season 9-0-1 and who had already beat Wilmington twice by a combined score of 6-0. Wilmington took an early lead just 6 minutes in when Granara scored with help from her teammates Liv Spizuoco and Tori Ciampa. The game was back and forth, but midway through the first period, Chelmsford scored to tie the game and just 3 minutes later struck again to take the lead 2-1. Chelmsford almost scored a third goal in the half, but a fingertip save by Amanda Broussard in net preserved the one-goal game. The Wildcats thought they tied the game late in the first half, but the referee ruled the ball did not fully cross the goal line and play continued with no further goals in that half.
The second half was a bruising half with play stopping on several occasions to attend to an injured Wilmington player. But the Wildcats battled on with a strong desire to come out on top. Wilmington pressed the attack and just missed a couple of top notch chances when Granara put the ball over the net from about 12 yards out on one occasion and Spizuoco putting the ball just wide after beating a defender and coming in on a breakaway. Chelmsford also had chances, but Wilmington’s back line played their hearts out to limit them to tough angle shots and no second chances. The efforts of Fiorenza in goal and Audrey Curdo, Kaitlyn Maguire, Kaitlyn Doherty, Sofia Barletta and Abby Regan combined to fill the back line and kept the game to a one goal difference.
With about 10 minutes remaining, Wilmington took a free kick from just over midfield. Curdo struck the ball well and sent it into the box where a streaking Granara looked to meet it. The incoming ball, however, had bounced and was about chest high when Granara met it – a hard shot was not possible. But a hard shot was not needed. Granara redirected the ball with her body and it bounced past the Chelmsford keeper to tie the game at two.
Regulation time ended in a 2-2- tie. Overtime would be needed again. About 2 minutes into overtime, Liv Spizuoco sent a ball towards Chelmsford’s goal with Granara racing to catch up to it, but the ball was struck too hard and the Chelmsford keeper got to it first. Granara pulled up and stopped just before the keeper who then made contact with Granara knocking her to the ground. The referee called for a penalty kick which Granara took and buried to take a 3-2 lead. The next 17 minutes seemed to tick by very slowly during which the Wildcats repelled several waves of Chelmsford pressure and prevailed to take home the league title.
With the win, Wilmington’s team will be the Middlesex representative in the GU12, Division 1 bracket of Mass Youth Soccer’s Tournament of Champions (MTOC) and will play this coming week end in Lancaster against teams from across the state. They hope to keep the magic going and win the state title, but win or lose, these Wildcats have already made Wilmington proud.
More scenes from the weekend:
(NOTE: The above press release and photos were submitted by the Wilmington Youth Soccer Association.)
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