GLOUCESTER — It’s been a work in progress for the young Gloucester High boys soccer team. But in recent contests, the Fishermen are starting to show some real promise as they enter the second half of their regular season slate.
Fresh off a competitive, scoreless draw against NEC powerhouse Masconomet, the Fishermen came out victorious in Monday afternoon’s matchup against Salem with an impressive 4-0 decision.
Gloucester held the Witches scoreless by using a combination of defenders and upping the aggression, achieving their third straight clean sheet in the process. Salem had a couple of opportunities after willing their way past the Gloucester defense, but lone captain and goalkeeper Stefano Numerosi held his own, and more, denying any sniff of a comeback for the Witches.
Junior defenseman Dylan Rochford aided in Numerosi’s efforts, standing out by stopping every ball that came his way and quickly transitioning it to the offensive end.
“He set the tone for us, he played like a man possessed,” said Gloucester head coach Armando Marnoto. “The team is just feeding off his defense, he’s coming along as a junior, so he will have an even bigger year next year.”
Gloucester’s defense really set the tone, allowing the offense to look for quality shots on the attack.
The Fishermen’s first goal came with just a couple of minutes left in the first half, and it was sophomore Seamus Linehan forcefully striking one into the back of the net off a pass from Marslinour Tanious, who thread the needle to set up Linehan up quite nicely.
Going into the half the Fishermen must’ve fed off this go-ahead marker, because they tallied up three more before the match came to an end. Senior forward Cade Cooper put himself right in front of the net, recouping the ball from Wesdra Silva, after he put on a number of moves on the Witches defenders. Cooper lifted one over the goalie and into the corner, to open the game up 2-0.
Silva then got one of his own on a two touch missile from about twenty yards out. This one was assisted by freshman Shane Widtfeldt, who crossed one in front right into the feet of Silva. Lastly, it was Widtfeldt putting the nail in the coffin, much to the liking of Coach Marnoto.
“I’m stoked that our freshman scored the fourth goal,” said Marnoto, who continues to feed more and more minutes to the talented Widtfeldt. “That was a nice goal,”
Unfortunately for Salem, there wasn’t much to be done. They had a couple of injuries and players playing out of position, which made it an uphill battle from the start.
“Henry (Beauparlant) never played center back before in his career, we have our center playing goalie right now,” Salem head coach Padraic Slattery stated after the game. “A lot of our guys are hurt, so hopefully we can come back from this loss and not let it happen again.”
Salem had a couple of chances to put goals on the board. The Witches ended with five corner kicks and two shots on net, but they just were never able to get past the brick wall of a defense that Gloucester had in Monday’s matchup.