A young Gloucester boys soccer team came into Wednesday’s matchup against visiting Winthrop looking for that elusive first win of the season.
Unfortunately, the Fishermen will have to wait another day.
In what was a very competitive and intense clash overall, Winthrop escaped with a narrow 1-0 victory at Newell Stadium. The Vikings potted the game’s only goal with 17 minutes left in the first half when Noah Bayersdorger blasted one off the post and into the back of the net for a backbreaking strike.
The losses continue to pile up for head coach Armando Marnoto’s group, but in this rebuilding season, it is all about the process for this team and getting their youthful core quality experience.
“We’re all coming back next year, and that’s what I keep preaching. Just keep getting better,” Marnoto said. “We’re gonna get punished this season, but that’s all right, ‘cause we’re gonna be better off. And they’re buying into that.”
Despite being scoreless in Wednesday’s tilt, Gloucester’s Seamus Linehan and Shane Widtfeldt were both all over the field creating opportunities for themselves and for their teammates, but ultimately could not finish one.
Sophomore keeper Treyton Bushfield, who has strung together an impressive season overall, had another standout performance in the net for the Fishermen with a couple of nice saves to keep it a one score game. None were bigger than his stop in the second half when he blocked a rebound effort by Winthrop to keep his squad within striking distance.
The Fishermen’s best opportunity for a goal came in the final minutes of the game when Linehan found Davi DaCosta for a golden opportunity, but he just put a bit too much juice on it.
Gloucester’s bench thought a whistle for a penalty shot should have been called, but it wasn’t to be.
“I thought that should have been a penalty shot,” said Marnoto. “I thought that was a trip.”
Gloucester would fall to 0-13-1 on the season, but can take plenty of positives from what was a very competitive outing overall.
“We’re just missing that final pass to that shot and the final pass to the goal and that’s what we’re going to improve on,” Marnoto said.
“I thought we did great in the last 15, 20 minutes, and we were really holding strong,” added the coach. “They had some good counter attacks because they were playing everybody back, trying to hold onto the win.”
Some young Fishermen, including the aforementioned Widtfeldt, a sophomore, have been stepping up for them in the process of their rebuilding campaign.
“I like the way Shane played on the right. We moved him out of the middle and put him on the right, so we got some more offensive pressure,” Marnoto said. “Ethan Parisi made some nice runs up and down the field on this side and I thought Finn Costa and Henry Harrison played a really good game in the middle on the back line.”
The Fishermen will likely continue to take their bumps and bruises as they inch closer to the regular season finish line … and they know that. But a season like they are having will be beneficial to their long-term success and they have bought into that reality.
Their young core is continuing to build chemistry and sticking together through the tough times, which certainly won’t last forever.