Nantucket Boys Soccer Advances To Round Of 16 Of MIAA Tournament
David Creed •
For the first time in five years, the Whaler boys soccer team won a state tournament matchup and is moving onto the Round of 16 following a 5-1 victory over Pentucket High School.
The Whalers, ranked #8 in the MIAA Division 3 State Tournament, found themselves in an early hole to #25 Pentucket but were able to score two goals late in the first half. Raakin Brannigan kicked off the scoring for Nantucket while Calvin Guevara converted a penalty kick to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.
"At the end of the game, that felt good because you saw the boys staying confident and getting more confidence and then finishing what they started," Whaler head coach Rich Brannigan II said. "Early in the game when you go down a goal, how are you going to respond? Which is a big deal, and even a good team can fall under that pressure. So what's your response? It took a while for us to get that equalizing goal.”
The Whalers exploded for three goals in the second half. Jayson Ayala headed in a goal off an Aldo Lemus crosser to make it 3-1. Eight minutes later in the 70th minute, Lemus scored a penalty kick. Stoyan Popov earned a goal in the 75th minute from an Edvin Valentukevicius assist. Parker Furtado recorded 4 saves for Nantucket.
"Responding that way shows good character of the team," Brannigan II said. "It's a mature way to come back. I told our guys that. They've learned some lessons. They've all been in playoff games so far. So definitely some good maturity in what I saw today.
Nantucket will now host #9 Fairhaven on Wednesday, November 11th at 2 p.m. at the Nantucket Elementary School soccer field following Fairhaven’s 1-0 defeat of #24 Dover-Sherborn.
"The boys' soccer brackets are so hard," Brannigan II said. “Everyone competes and if you have a few athletes, you can put something together. It's matchups, you get lucky, you know, this tournament is always hard. You can't predict, but that underdog team can win a few games and make a few surprising stances.”
Below are some more photos from Monday’s game taken by Chris Tran.
