Having faced Winchester in the regular-season finale two weeks ago, the Cambridge Rindge and Latin boys’ soccer team knew Wednesday’s postseason rematch would require persistence against a tough-nosed, defensive-minded opponent.
“We knew they were coming to get us back,” said CRLS coach Olf Mouyaka.
After struggling to generate high-quality chances in the first half, Falcons junior Elias Hyland finally broke through with a penalty kick in the 57th minute and added an insurance goal 13 minutes later.
Hyland’s pair of goals propelled top-seeded CRLS to a 2-0 victory over the No. 16 seed Winchester in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 1 tournament’s round of 16.
“We knew this was going to be a hard game,” said Hyland. “We just pulled through, and we are ecstatic.”
The Falcons (13-1-3) have won 11 consecutive games while outscoring opponents 40-6 in that stretch.
Setting the tone
The best scoring chance for the visiting Red and Black (11-5-2) came in the second minute, when a corner kick led to a juicy header inside the 6-yard box, plucked out of the air by CRLS junior goalkeeper Winslow Lively.
“As a keeper, you might get two chances a game,” said Lively. “But you have to save them, because that could mean the difference between a win, a loss and a tie.”
CRLS settled in after Winchester’s opening attack and maintained possession for the majority of the first half, notching six corner kicks in the frame. Still, the Red and Black held firm on the back line and prevented Falcons counterattacks.
“We knew [Winchester] would come in really hot,” said Mouyaka. “To us, it was about not getting scored on in the first [half] and then turning on the screws and playing our game in the second half.”
Meeting the moment
The Falcons’ control of possession and well-orchestrated passing sequences were rewarded in the 57th minute, when junior Mathias Asnake shook free down the left wing and drew a penalty just inside the left corner of the 18-yard box.
That set up a penalty kick opportunity for Hyland, who closed his eyes and took a deep breath before burying a shot to the lower-left corner of the net to give CRLS a 1-0 advantage.
“I basically just try to remove myself from the situation. I specifically think about my family. I don’t think about the penalty kick at all,” said Hyland. “I closed my eyes and was taking my mind off the kick. And then when I opened my eyes, it’s just like practice.”
Winchester junior Will Brown made two highlight-reel diving saves to his left to preserve the one-score deficit, but the relentless CRLS pressure was eventually too much to overcome.
In the 70th minute, Hyland found an opening at the top of the 18-yard box and sent a dribbler to the left corner that beat Brown and doubled the lead.
“At the end of the day, you just need to convert your chances, and we started moving it around,” said Hyland. “Once we got that first goal, [Winchester] started attacking more. And that gave us space to get the second.”
Looking ahead
Hyland’s two-goal performance increased his season total to a team-leading 17 goals and matched the pair of goals he scored in Monday’s 6-1 victory over Chelmsford.
The win advanced the Falcons to the Division 1 quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, where they will host the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 9 Needham and No. 25 Arlington.
Last year, a senior-laden CRLS team lost 4-1 to St. John’s Prep in the quarterfinal round.
Though this year’s Falcons are relying on a nucleus of juniors and sophomores, Mouyaka believes Wednesday’s performance shows the team can execute under the bright lights of the postseason.
“I’m coaching a group of young boys, where this is the first time they’re getting here,” said Mouyaka. “They don’t know what it’s like to be top. They don’t know what it’s like to be the team that everyone’s chasing. And today was one of those days where we asked them to prove that they … deserve to be the No. 1 [seed], and they showed that.”
A stronger
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