Nantucket Boys Soccer Advances To State Quarterfinal

The Nantucket boys soccer team has advanced to the MIAA Division 3 State Quarterfinal following a 3-1 victory on the island Wednesday afternoon against Fairhaven High School. Nantucket will now play top-seeded Medfield for a chance to advance to the state semifinal.

"I was really happy. The boys rose and met the occasion. They rose to it," Whaler head coach Rich Brannigan II said. "We say in games like this, you have to meet speed with speed. You have to meet aggression with aggression. You have to meet physicality with physicality. If your opponent is doing things and you can't react in the right way to that kind of energy, it's hard to recover or to play the game or you fall behind and you can't jump back in. It's a thing that in playoff games, it's the one thing that I focus on before games. Speed, energy, aggression, physicality, you have to meet it, and we did.”

Nantucket scored the game’s first goal with just five minutes remaining before halftime when Aldo Lemus hit a corner perfectly to allow Stoyan Popov to head it into the net and give the Whalers their 1-0 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Fairhaven tied things up at one apiece. Then less than a minute later, Tigger Sirisophapong scored the eventual game-winner, which was an unassisted blast from long-distance.

"Goals change games and when they tied the game you're like, 'Okay, momentum. Where are we going with this? What's happening?' And our legs were tired. You could see guys cramping. Tigger has found some confidence in the postseason. He has been a bit up and down for us, but he's coming on strong really good now, and you know, you have to be willing to shoot the ball. If you don't shoot the ball, you don't score goals. If you don't put the ball on target, you don't score goals. So impressive on our players to shoot the ball, put it on frame, don't over hit it. He was in a very awkward spot from where he shot it from. But hey, you shoot it, you score. Goals change games. From that moment on, the energy changed and we were thankfully able to find that third (goal).”

With about 10 minutes remaining in the game, Lemus scored on a Popov assist to give the Whalers a comfortable two goal lead on their way to victory.

"It's been a few years since we've been able to put our mark on the postseason," Brannigan II said. “A lot of it is culture driven. You have to have a culture of of winning. Not just winning games, winning attitude, winning mentality, and we've been able to grow that culture. Being able to do it in the postseason takes more. It's different. You need to have even more of that energy, that focus, that positivity, that willingness to compete, because it's a different level come postseason. Everyone's good. Everyone has players that can play. They're here for a reason. I’m really excited for these boys.”

The victory was the 30th career postseason victory for Brannigan as the leader of the boys soccer program, which he has coached since the fall of 2000.

Whalers will travel to #1 seed Medfield for their state quarterfinal at Medfield High School and the game will be played at 2:30 p.m. You can view more photos from Wednesday’s victory below.