GEORGETOWN — It was one of those rare soccer games where both teams could come out of it feeling decently satisfied.
For Newburyport, the reason was simple: It won the game.
Traveling a handful of exits down I-95 on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, the red-hot Clippers got into more a dogfight than they anticipated, but were still able to drive home with a 2-1 victory over Georgetown. With just over five minutes left in the game, Quentin Miller drew a corner himself and sent in the entry, and a loose ball found its way through traffic to the foot of Devante Bucchiere.
And from there, the senior captain easily sent home the game-winner.
“I wasn’t really expecting it to get through to me,” said Bucchiere. “But I think it was Parker (Johnson), he like hit it back across the line, and there was nobody on me. I pretty much was just waiting there, and it was a gift to my feet. Luckily we got that.”
Don’t get it twisted, Newburyport will never apologize for winning a CAL game.
But on the doorstep of the Division 2 playoffs, the Clippers (10-5-1) know that Tuesday’s performance wasn’t their best.
“We didn’t have a very good game tonight, but I think we bounced back a little bit,” said Newburyport coach Shawn Bleau. “We won the game, but we didn’t play very well. The energy needs to be better on the field out there. Our kids played a little lackadaisical, and we got into a battle because of it. Give Georgetown credit, they played their butts off and made us play like that. But we have to play a little better, especially at the end of the season here with the playoffs coming up.”
Still, Newburyport did enough to get the win.
And, perhaps more importantly, the Clippers got to celebrate the return of Daily News All-Star center-back Grady Smith to the lineup on Tuesday. The senior captain has been out all year with an injury, but is now back on the pitch to help lead what has been an elite defense alongside Danny Lopez, Max Coffin, Federico Peruzzi, Josh Sucheki and Shea Cook.
“It felt good out there,” said Smith. “I’m glad to be back with the team. We’re doing good this year, everyone has been playing great, so I’m glad to finally be back out there with them.”
Newburyport, which came in ranked No. 23 in the latest Division 2 power poll released earlier in the day, has now won 10 of its last 12 games. Midway through the first half, it was Lopez sending a beautiful through-ball down the middle that Sean Gasbarro caught up too, and the senior got off a shot that buried into the bottom-right corner of the net for the game’s opening goal. From there, Smith, goalie Jack Burns and the defense made sure that the Clippers went into halftime leading 1-0.
“It was good to see (Smith) back out there playing,” said Bleau. “We have to get some rust out of him so he’s ready for the playoffs. But yeah, it’s great to have him back out there. He got in a tackle on the first play of the game and was okay, so I was like, ‘Alright, he’s ready.’”
But … now we get to the other side of the story.
For little Georgetown (7-8-2), it gave a perennial CAL power a heck of a fight.
The Royals put together an inspiring afternoon, spearheaded by goalie Peter Trougakos making nine saves. They even missed a penalty kick midway through the second half, but managed to regroup and get a stunning free kick goal from Niki Markovic that hit bar-down from 20 yards out to tie the game at 1-1.
Between Zachary Pinkham, Mateo Crosby, Bryce Hodges, Hunter Tracy, Jacob Dunlevy and basically everyone else, Georgetown played an excellent game and nearly pulled off the stunner. The Royals came in at No. 27 in the latest Division 4 rankings, and should make the playoffs with only Thursday’s game against Rockport left.
Win that one, and the Royals are automatically in via the .500 rule.
“It’s not a win because it doesn’t feel like a win,” said Georgetown coach Chris DiFranco. “But you have to look backwards and say, ‘If you can play like that against these guys, you can play with anyone.’ I thought it was a total team effort today. Every guy played their role, and every guy who came off the bench gave everything they had. And our possession was very, very strong for most of the game.”